Darkest Hour
by BenFiremonk
Summary: An abused and broken Kazuto Kirigaya starts playing the new Sword Art Online, only to be trapped along with thousands of others by the game's creator. During his imprisonment, he'll embrace his darker impulses.
1. First Meeting

I limped into the house with my copy of Sword Art Online. I looked into the living room and saw my uncle Minetaka, passed out on the couch. There were quite a few bottles of alcohol on the floor.

"Looks like the drunk bastard woke up." I muttered as I rubbed my mouth.

I limped upstairs where my "sister" Sugu was coming out of her room.

"Why are you limping?" She asked.

"Take a guess as to why I would be limping. I'll give you a hint, it's passed out on the couch." I said reaching the top step.

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"Bullshit! You've got to be deaf not to hear him beat me at night."

"Calm down Kazuto."

"I'm not gonna calm down. I am sick and tired of being beaten every day. Every night I dream of killing that drunk bastard."

"K-Kazuto?"

"Shut up!" I said backhanding her.

She fell to the ground with tears running down her face, and holding her face.

* * *

 _Present Day_

I walked into town of Tolbana, where the Floor boss meeting was being held.

 _'The clock says 1:27. The meeting doesn't start till four. Might as well kill sometime in the Labyrinth, probably won't have time to loot the dungeon when we going to fight the boss.'_

I grabbed some provision and made my way to the Labyrinth. A few floors later, I ran into a cloaked rapier user fighting a couple of Ruin Kobold Troopers. I leaned against a wall and just watched them overuse the _Linear_ skill.

"Overusing sword skills leads to exhaustion, exhaustion leads to death. Continue to fight like that and you'll die."

"Everyone dies, it just depends on how. And since I've survived four days out here-"

She was cut off by Troopers spawning in. "Rapier" went to attack but I kill the Troopers, before they could even react. Afterwards I turn around and watched "Rapier" collapse to the floor.

"Why does no one listen to me?" I said lifting her up and carried her outside to a field. I laid her in a field underneath a large tree. After a couple hours I heard a groan.

"Why?.. Why did you save me?!"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't why I did it either, maybe it was pity. Pity that a submissive girl like yourself has to survive on her own."

"DAMN YOU!" She yelled as she charged towards me.

I dodged her attack and dodged the next.

"I mean you gave up _far_ too easily." I said still dodging her attacks

"SHUT UP!" She shouted swinging her sword wildly. I drew my sword and launched her rapier out of her hand, and knocked her off balance. I grabbed her before she fell and placed my sword against her throat.

"Honestly I don't give a damn if your here by mistake or even if your entire family was slaughtered right in front of you. If you want to die there's the Labyrinth, otherwise make your way to town and help us fight." I stood her up and sheathed my sword and walked away.

"You were right about one thing. About how death can be unavoidable in SAO, however your logic was wrong. If it were me, I'd try to go out in style while fighting a floor boss."

I got to Tolbana just as the meeting was about to start. A player with blue hair stood in the center of the stage addressing the players that attended the meeting.

"Now I don't think I need to tell you why you guys are here, but I'll remind you anyways. If your here then you're fighting on the frontlines, and it's our responsibility to ensure that all the players trapped here are released from the game. Diabel said.

"Hold up! I think some of you guys should apologize to the 2000 that died!" A cactus haired player yelled making his way to the stage.

"Hold on, you're not talking about the beta testers, are you?" Diabel said

"Of course I am. They're the reason why 2000 people are dead! If they didn't leave us new players behind, those 2000 would still be alive. Kibaou said trying to get the players to agree with him.

"What about the strategy guide" said a giant axe wielding behemoth.

"And who the hell are you?" Kiboau aid.

"My names Agil, now if you'll please shut up and listen! This is the strategy guide provided to everyone." Agil said pulling out a book. "Put together by Argo the Rat and the Ex-beta testers. Everyone read it yet some still died. Now I'm not here to point fingers, I'm here to learn from those players deaths and escape this damn game."

Kibaou didn't seem to take getting cut off very well as he stormed off. Diabel walked back to the center of the stage.

"Now getting back to the meeting, I want all of you to form parties of 6 players."

After everyone scrambled around to form their parties.

"Now the latest edition of the strategy guide was just released, it says the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold Lord he fights with an axe and buckler. And when his health goes into the red he switches to a weapon called a Talwar and his attack patterns change too. Any objections. Good, we'll meet back here at 10." Diavel quickly said.

I stood up and tried to sneak out to the center of town, when Diabel shouted at me.

"Hey! Obsidian haired kid. If your fighting the boss you need to party up with someone."

"I work better alone."

"You can't go alone. Why don't you form a party of two with that cloaked player over there?" Diabel said pointing towards a cloaked player.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" The cloaked girl and I said in unison as we look at each other. "I'm not working with them!"

"Listen, you either party up with each other or you don't fight the boss, and that's that." Diabel said walking to the center of town.

I flipped off Diabel when he turned his back. Then I turned to the girl.

"So, you decided to live then?" I said crossing my arms.

She stood up out of her seat and walked towards me. "I'm taking your advice. If I'm going to die I might as well die doing something important."

"What advice? I never gave you advice. You were suppose to die in the labyrinth" I turned around and walked towards my rented house.

"Hey! Where are you going?" She said following me.

"Home, to take a bath."

"What about partying up?"

"What are they going to do kill us?" I stopped and sighed. "If you feel safer send the invite."

I kept walking and a window popped up.

 _"Asuna has invited you to their party."_ I sighed and hit accept.

I arrived at the house I rented out for 80 col. After hearing footsteps I turned around to find Asuna standing behind me.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"We're partied up, so we've got to stick together, right?"

I let out a big sigh. "Fine." Then walked through the door.

"What? That's it, I expected you to object in some way."

I stopped and turned around.

"If I were to have said no, and closed the door on you. You wouldn't have left, you would have stood at the door knocking until I gave in and opened it. Like every other pain in the ass girl."

"Jackass" She said as she walked passed me with a pissed look on her face.

"Heard worse."

A few minutes passed, Asuna stole the bathroom to take a bath as I fell asleep on the living room couch. When I woke up, it was 9:50 in the morning and Asuna was nowhere to be found. But there was a sandwich on table.

I chuckled and ate the sandwich, then walked to Tolbana.

"You're late!" Asuna said.

"My apologies, your Highness. I overslept."

Asuna rolled her eyes after that remark. We made our way outside of the boss room where Diabel gave a short speech to boost morale, then we entered the room. Diabel shouted out commands from behind us after a few minutes we managed to drop the bosses HP to the red, when Illfang threw away his axe and shield. Suddenly Diabel charged at the boss.

"Stand back everyone, I'm going to finish this!" Diabel yelled.

It was then I noticed the boss's back-up weapon was a No-Dachi, not a Talwar. Something compelled me to warn him.

"That's not a Tarwar, It's a No Dachi!"

"What!?"

That was the last word Diabel said before Illfang bounced off the walls and slashed Diabel to death.

I towards Illfang and deflected the his sword skill with my own knocking him off balance as Asuna switched in for an attack, but somehow the he managed to regain his composure and swung at Asuna,

"Asuna!" I yelled to warn her.

After realizing what was happening, Asuna dodged Illfangs attack but he somehow managed to tear off her cloak revealing her face, she activates a sword skill that stuns the boss. I stood up and got in between Asuna and the boss and blocked his sword skill attack with my own, the impact of both sword skills clashing launches me and Asuna to the floor.

Just as Illfang was about to finish us off, a green beam of light sends him flying backwards.

"We'll hold him off for as long as possible" Agil said.

All the players finally decided jump into the battle and attack Illfang.

He knocked them all back then jumped high into the air. I grab my sword and met him half way through his descent, I block his attack and strike him to the ground like a meteor.

"We're ending this, now!" I said to Asuna.

We blocked Illfang's attacks and I waited for the right moment and slashed the him in half. Illfang the Kabold lord was defeated; a window appeared in front of my face.

 _"Congratulation, You got the last attack bonus, Reward: Coat of Midnight"_

I knelt there to catch my breath, listening to the player's cheers.

"WHY!? Why did you let Diabel die, you knew what the bosses back up weapon was and you didn't tell us, IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Kibaou yelled.

"He must have been a beta tester, he knew what the bosses attack patterns and kept it to himself!" Another player said.

"And that snitch Argo lied in her strategy guide. She selling lies!" Kibaou said

"If it wasn't for him, you'd all be dead. You owe him your worthless lives." Asuna said reaching for her rapier.

I felt my fist clench, Kibaou was really getting on my nerves and the fact that he's assigning the blame really pisses me off.

"Honestly, I don't know why you're so angry. Diabel played his part perfectly, as cannon fodder like the rest of you." I said laughing.

"GODDAMN YOU!" Kibaou yelled charging towards me. I drew my sword and knocked his out of his hand, then plunged mine into his chest. My player cursor turned orange.

"Next time you do that, I will kill you. Understand?" I pulled my sword out of his chest just as his health was about to hit zero. Then slammed my knee into his face.

"I'm going to activate the transfer gate, if any of you follow me, be prepared to die." I said walking through the door.

* * *

I apologize if the chapter is awful. With my luck chapters 2 and 3 may also be awful, but fingers crossed.


	2. The Rock

I walked out the door and into the second floor. I walked off the path to Urbus and onto a road that lead to an amazing view. I heard the footsteps of the frontliners walking down the road to Urbus clustered together. Clearly they didn't take my advice, because after a while I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it sure is." Agil said standing next to me. "I must say it was pretty selfless of you to take the heat for the beta testers."

"What? Oh yeah, that's totally why I did it. To take the heat for the beta testers." (i)'And totally not because Kibaou was pissing me off'

"Although, not everyone knew why you did it. Some think you're a psycho-murderer."

"Murderer? I haven't murdered anyone...yet."

"Well not everyone knows that, some don't even care." Agil said as we started walking to Urbus.

"So let me guess. It's Kibaou isnt it."

"Actually, it wasn't him it's someone else."

Agil was about to say something, when a player ran in between us followed by two ninja looking guys chasing after them.

"GET BACK HERE!" One of the "ninjas" yelled, grabbing his weapon.

Agil and I decided to chase after the ninjas to figure out what was going on. When we caught up to the two men, they had cornered the player who turned out to be Argo. Agil picked up the men by the back of their armor.

"Now what do we have here?" I said placing my sword against one of their throats.

"Excuse me gents. I must acquire these two men." Said a man.

"What for?" I said.

"... Community service. They were trying to attack this poor young girl, so I'm going to enslave them."

"I'm not a little girl." Argo said.

"Whatever you say pipsqueak."

"...Go right ahead." I said.

"Appreciate it. The names Shiva, by the way."

"My names K-"

"You're the one who fought the boss. Impressive work by the way."

"...Thanks."

"Now then, Agil, was it? Do you mind bring these two back to town with me?"

"Sure. See you around."

As Shiva and Agil walked around, I turned and helped Argo up.

"You alright Argo?"

"Just perfect. Thanks for the help." She said.

"Should I ask why they were after you?"

"They wanted the Martial Arts skill."

"Martial Arts skill? I've never heard of it."

"Rumors of the quest start on the seventh floor. But the quest itself starts here on the second."

"Well I guess I'll have to go looking for it once I get to the seventh floor."

I turned around and started walking away.

"Or I could tell you where it is."

"And why would you do that?" I said stopping.

"Because you saved me and basically sold two guys into slavery. Not many guys would do that for me." She said walking over to me.

'What are you playing at? Argo never acts like this.'

"The quest giver is in a hut in the mountains"

"Thanks for the info, Argo."

 _An hour later_

I arrived at the hut in the mountains. When I started the quest, the NPC painted my face, removed my equipment and told me to break the rock outside. I walked outside and examined the rock with my hands.

"Damn it, this rock has to be about two meters tall and wide. I'm going to be here forever."

I pressed my fist against the rock, pulled back and punched the rock. I grabbed my wrist and looked at my hand, which had cuts on the knuckles.

"Ugh! The hell is this made of? Azbantium?"

I shook my hand and punched the rock again and again. Hours past and I was still nowhere close to breaking the boulder. My hand was red and throbbing; if it were the real world my hand would be bloody and broken. I sat down and fell asleep.

I woke up early the next morning to continue my abuse. It was around ten in the morning when I heard something.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Said a voice.

I turned around and saw Asuna with a shocked look on her face.

"Working." I said, continuing to hit the rock.

Asuna walked up to me and grabbed my hand and examined it. After the cuts went away, she touched the knuckles.

"Where did these scars come from?"

"Don't know, I don't think the game has a scar system. Maybe it's to say that I've attempted or completed this quest."

"And what exactly is the quest?"

"Break the rock without your equipment. If you succeed, you get the Martial Arts skill."

I pulled my hand away and punched the rock again.

"So what _brings_ you to the mountains?"

"I was looking for you. Argo said I could find you up here."

"What did you want to see me _for_?"

"I wanted to check in on you."

"Why?"

"Do I really need a reason?"

"Yes. It's unusual."

"How so?"

"I provoked someone into attacking me and threatened to kill them if they pissed me off again. So why the hell would anyone want to 'check in on me'?"

"Because I know there's a reason you're an arrogant ass. And I want to know why."

"Ohhh I get it, the princess wants to know more about the common folk. I'm guessing mommy and daddy didn't want their perfect daughter getting corrupted. So they locked you up and kept you away from normal boys so you wouldn't give away the family fortune."

"What? H-how?"

"The rapier kind of gave it away. That and your slight hesitation when you grabbed my hand."

"Since you seem to know all about me. It's your turn tell me about you."

"...Fine. Hmmmm, let's start at the beginning. My mother was in labor and my dad was driving her to the hospital, a driver had a seizure and ran a red light and hit them. When the ambulance came and brought them to the hospital, my father dead on arrival and my mom was rushed to surgery. She died during child birth. The doc said that if she wasn't pregnant, she would have survived. I never got to meet her."

"Jesus, that's awful."

"It only gets worse, the longer I live."

It was silent for a while.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone now."

When Asuna left I went back to punching my rock. After an hour, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A herd of ox's.

"I wonder."

I picked up a rock and throw it at one of the ox's. Its eyes turned red as it looked at me.

"Come on."

The ox ran towards me horns first and just as it got close, I jumped up and pushed on the back of its head, vaulting over it. With me out of harm's way, the ox ran into the boulder and broke it.

"I can't believe that actually worked." I said looking at the broken boulder. "Just saved myself a day or two of abuse."

I walked back into the hut and got the whiskers removed and got the Martial Arts skill. As I walked out I got a message from someone.

 **"** _Kii-bou, meet me at the bar in Urbus._ **"**

"What the hell does she want?"

I replied back and headed toward town.


	3. Nezha

_'Of all the places we could meet, why a bar?'_

I walked into the bar and found Argo at the counter, drinking something.

"Kirito, how are you? Did you finish that quest yet?"

Argo's speech seemed a bit slurred.

"Why'd you call me down here?"

"What's wrong Kii-bou? You seem a bit on edge."

"Bad memories."

"Ahh, first time getting drunk?"

"Drunk uncle."

Argo slid her hand across the counter and grabbed my hand and looked at me.

"Ya know Kirito, this may be the alcohol talking, but I never noticed how attractive you are."

She moved her face close to mine, close enough to smell her breath.

 _'No alcohol on her breath?... Why would she be pretending to be drunk? What is she trying to do? Get me to reveal things about myself?'_

"Why don't we take this back to my place?" She said.

 _'Option C.'_

"And once we're there, I'll tie you to the bed and blindfold you. And the sounds I'll get you to make, will be music to my ears. And since you're drunk, I'll have to pull out the paddles and hit you extra hard." I whipped into her ear.

Argo moved away from me with utter fear in her eyes.

"I'm not drunk, I was joking around with you."

"You should see the look on your face." I chuckled. "Stop prying into my life, and tell me why I'm here." I said seriously. "Or else I'll do just that."

Argo took a second to compose herself.

"There's a blacksmith, a player blacksmith. I have a bad feeling about him and I want you to look into it."

"What do you think his doing?"

"I think his scamming players. I'll pay you a thousand cor."

"I want half up front."

"What for?"

"For that little stunt you pulled a few seconds ago."

"Ugh, fine." She said, transferring the money over.

"Please doing business with you."

 _The next day_

I walked into Nezha's shop with a sword I bought off a player. No way I was letting the smith anyway near my Anneal Blade. "Ah, a customer. What can I do for you?" The smith said.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could upgrade my sword."

"Let me see... A 5+ iron sword." He said grabbing the sword.

"I want to increase the strength of it."

"Do you have the materials to upgrade it?"

"Of course."

I handed over the materials and followed him to his anvil. He placed the sword down and started hammering it, but on the tenth and final strike. The sword shattered.

"Damnit, I'm so sorry."

"What the hell happened?"

"It must have broken due to the upgrading. I'm sorry this happened."

"It's fine. I was looking for a reason to get a new sword."

"Please, let me make it up to you. I'll compensate you for the sword, or refund my service."

 _'Who am I to turn down free money?'_

"I'll take the money for the sword."

I took the money and walked out of the shop.

An hour later

I watched from around a corner as Nezha locked up his shop and walked away. If I was to find any information on him, I needed to shadow him. So I followed him all round town until he stopped at the local inn. Nezha started looking around, like he had a feeling he was being followed, and then looked back. I managed to dive behind cover just before he could see behind him. He looked forward again and walked into the inn. I followed suit and took a seat at the counter. The inn doubled as a tavern, so there was a bar here.

"Club soda." I said to the bartender.

"Good evening, guys." Nezha said.

"Nezha, how you doing? How's the business going?" Someone said.

"Good so far. I've gotten alot of items today."

Nezha transferred over some items to one of the players sitting at the table.

"A lot of good stuff here. Keep up the good work."

"About that, I thinking we should stop doing the scam. The longer we keep it up, the higher the risk of exposure is."

"No one is going to find out about the scam. People are stupid, and will never be able to piece together that we're stealing their weapons and selling them."

 _'Those dastards. Stealing weapons and selling them for a profit? Argo will want to know about this. But first, I want to find the leader.'_

 _The next day_

I managed to sneak into Nezha's store and hid behind a crate he had in the shop. After what seemed like an eternity, Nezha finally came in with a customer.

"So what did you want me to upgrade again?" He said.

"The heaviness." Said the customer.

"Right."

Nezha placed the weapon on the anvil and started hammering it. Just before the final hit, I watched as he used (i)Quick Change to put the weapon in his the last hit the weapon shattered.

"Damn I'm-"

I jumped out from behind the crate before Nezha could finish talking, and threw him against the wall.

"Caught you red handed."

"What the hell is going on?" The customer said.

"Take a walk, the smith's taking a lunch break."

When the customer left, I walked over and stood Nezha up.

"Start talking, and don't you dare lie to me."

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Start with the scam."

"I came up with the idea of the scam as a way to make money for my guild, the Brave Legends, since I couldn't fight. Once we stopped the scam, I was planning onrevealing the truth then killing myself to make amends."

"Where's the rest of the weapons you've stolen?"

"The Legends have already sold them. They're gone."

"You're coming with me, Nezha."

 _Town of Beginnings_

I brought Nezha to the edge of town, as the sun was beginning to set.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I said.

"Y-yeah, I guess it is... What are you planning on doing with me?"

"Well obviously, you and the Brave Legends will have to face judgment. Make it up to the people you scammed."

"Oh trust me, I'll make amends to those people."

"Oh, you most definitely will. There's only one punishment that I can think of, that equates to putting our chances of beating this game at risk."

"And what's that?"

"Death."  
I grabbed Nezha by the shirt, and threw him over the railing. And heard him scream as he fell into the endless abyss below.

 **"** _Argo, I found out what that smith was doing. He was scamming players, stealing their weapons and having his guild sell them. The name of the guild is Brave Legends._ **"**

I sent the message and looked at the abyss below, before heading back to 2nd floor.


	4. Moonlit Black Cats

"To Kirito, our savior!" The guild said, as they raised their glasses.

"Oh please, guys it was nothing." I said.

"Nothing? You saved us, if you hadn't been in that dungeon, we'd all be dead. We owe you our lives." Their leader said.

"You don't owe me anything."

"But we do. Listen Kirito, we want to join the Assault Team but we can't do alone. We'd like you to join our guild. That is, if you want to."

"Sure, why not. Soloing was getting a bit too boring."

"Great, let me introduce everyone. I'm Keita, the scaredy cat here is Sachi. That's Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and that's Ducker."

"Nice to meet you all."

 _A month later_

We were in a field fighting a praying mantis, Sachi was in front but she froze.

"Sachi get back, I'll handle this." I said switching with her, blocking the mantis's arm and cutting it off. "Tetsuo, switch!"

Tetsuo switched and killed the praying mantis with one hit.

"Damn, I'm sorry guys I just froze. I'm so useless." She said.

"You're not useless Sachi, you're just not ready yet, there's nothing to be ashamed of." I said comforting her.

We went somewhere safe for lunch; Ducker was pretending to choke out Keita. I just stared at them.

 _'The Black Cats is made up of good people. Just after a month I've grown closer to them than my "actual" family.'_

 _Later that day_

"Good news guys, after our latest hunts we're much closer to our goal of buying a house. Or we could use the col and upgrade our equipment." Keita said.

"Yeah, Sachi could use some better equipment." Sasamaru said.

"No, I'm good with the equipment I've got." Sachi said.

"Come on Sachi. You can't let Kirito be on the front forever." Keita said. Sachi gave me a sad look.

"Its fine Sachi, I don't mind being on the front. Change can be hard sometimes; it takes a while to get used to it."

"Kirito and I both believe in you Sachi. Now guys it's late, so let's get some sleep."

That night I went out to do a little bit of leveling as I climbed the hill I saw my "old friend" Klein. I didn't want to talk to him, so I hid until he and his guild left. About an hour or two later I got a message from Keita.

 **"** _Hey it's Keita. Sachi ran off and hasn't come back yet, we're heading to the dungeon now. Please let me know if you find her._ **"**

"Damnit, not again."

I ran back to Taft and under a bridge. Sachi was sitting, hugging her legs under her invisibility cloak. Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was there.

"Sachi, I love ya, but you've got to stop doing this. You're worrying the guys. And I thought our last talk put the whole death thing to rest?"

I sat next to her and removed the cloak.

"Hey Kirito. Why don't you talk about your family in the real world?" She finally said.

"Mainly because I technically didn't have family. I lived with my aunt who was home for about six hours a month at most. A drunken uncle and a sister who's really my cousin."

I massaged my jaw like I usually did when I talked about my "family".

"Sorry for bring up bad memories."

"It's fine. They don't hurt so much anymore." It was silent for a few minutes. "You ready to head back?"

"Sure."

 _June 22th_

"Well, guys I'm off." Keita stepped on the teleport gate. "Teleport, Town of Beginnings."

"Can you believe, I never thought buying a house could be so exciting?" Sasamaru said.

"Dude, you sound like an old man." Ducker said, hit Sasamaru in the back.

"Hey guys, while Keitas out. Why don't we hunt on the higher floors and get make some extra money." Tetsuo said.

"We could buy furniture." Sachi said. Everyone was getting too excited.

"I think we should stick to our normal hunting grounds."

"No way Kirito. You said yourself; we're a pretty strong guild. We can handle it." Ducker said.

 _Hours later._

We're walking down one of the halls in the 27th floor labyrinth. I looked over at Sachi, who had a scared look on her face. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok Sachi, I promised that I would protect you guys, didn't I?"

"Hey guys, look." Ducker said, placing his hand on a wall. Which caused the wall to open.

"Guys, it's a trap!" I yelled, stepping into the room. But it was too late Ducker had opened the chest. The room went red and a siren went off and the door was closing and then Granite Elementals and Dark Dwarf Miners started spawning.

"We got to get out of here." Ducker said. "Teletport Taft... Teleport Taft!"

"Damn it, this must be some sort of anti-crystal area." I said, fighting the Elements and the Miners.

Ducker tripped and was the first to die, gangbanged by the Miners.

"Tetsuo!" Sasamaru yelled, charging the Elemental who killed Tetsuo. "Damn you!"

The Earth Elemental was unfazed and with one hit killed Sasamaru, leaving only me and Sachi; I fought my way to Sachi and managed to get her behind as I started hacking and slashing. After a few minutes I managed to kill all the elementals and dwarfs.

"I think that's the last of them." I said looking at the door opening.

I turned around to look at Sachi, as she ran up and hugged me, with tears in her eyes. I held her as she sobbed on my shoulder.

"Shhhh, its okay Sachi. It's okay."

A few seconds later I felt a familiar sharp pain in my chest. I looked up and saw an Earth Elemental. I removed its arm from out of my chest and struck it with my sword. Then realization kicked in as I looked to the ground.

"Sachi!"

* * *

It's been about three weeks since the incident. I was on Floor 28 meeting with Argo.

"Hey, Kii-bou. You've been radio silent for a while, more than normal." Argo said.

"I've just had a lot on my plate recently."

"I see. So why'd you call me?"

"I'm looking for something to do. Have you heard anything lately?"

"Some dungeons, quests, places of interest. Although, I did hear a rumor that someone wants to set up a meeting with a bunch of orange players."

"A meeting with orange players?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what for though. Might be worth checking out. Who knows what the meeting is about?"

"Did they say where the meetings being held?"

"They paid me a lot of cor not to tell anyone but orange players. But since I'm worried about what could happen, I'll tell you. They're meeting on Floor 10, in a dungeon."

 _Floor 10_

As I walked into the cave, I started hearing voices deeper within. Thirty or so orange players stood in a large room in the cave. There was a man standing on a rock addressing the crowd.

"My friends, thank you for joining me. Now the reason why I've called you here is to discuss something important."

The crowd started muttering.

"The reason why we're here is because the Clearers have cast us out.

"Then it's time we show them what happens when you cast someone out." I said.

The crowd turned around and parted as I walked towards the man.

"The Clearer's and Kayaba have taken everything from us! Our families, our lives. They've made life here so much harder for us, because of mistakes we made or how we were raised! So now it's our turn to take everything from them!"

Everyone started cheering.

"How do we do that?" Someone said.

"Murder!"

The room fell silent again.

"Kayaba's the real murderer. He put us in this situation, built the machine that will fry us upon death. He aimed the gun and pulled the trigger!"

The crowd started cheering again.

"We will rob them of everything! Every wall they build will be knocked down, every building burned. And when they're on their knees begging for mercy! We will cut them down!"


	5. First Request

I sat in my new office of the Laughing Coffin HQ. (A room in a cave on one of the lower floors.) I heard a knock on the door.

"It's open."

Kai Kelso, one of my men, walked into my office.

"Hey boss, we've gotten a request from someone."

"A request?"

"For an assassination target."

"Someone actually came to us and gave us a contract?"

"Apparently. What do you want to do about it?"

"I'll go investigate."

"Alone?"

"I'd rather not risk men if it's a trap of some sort... But have Philia shadow me."

"Sure thing, boss."

 _Floor 19_

After Kai handed over the location, I masked up and went down to the Cross of the Hill, while Philia stalked from behind. Near the tree stood a man in a top hat.

"Are you?.. A member of Laughing Coffin?" He said.

"The leader, actually... Are you the client?" The man had a shocked look on his face.

"Yes, forgive me for my shock. I didn't expect the leader of Laughing Coffin to be a kid."

"What did you want to talk about?" I said impatiently.

"Ah, yes, the contract. I need you to kill a woman named Griselda."

"How much are you going to pay?"

"Five hundred cor."

"A thousand. My services for killing women is double."

"That's robbery."

"No, that's business. We're the only ones that can effectively kill people. No one else will get the job done like us."

"You're right. A thousand it is."

"Glad we agree. Now, where's the target?"

"She's on the 40th floor, selling a ring to someone in the Front Lines."

"Hmm, being on the frontlines could make things a little bit harder...What does the target look like?"

"Short brown hair, sword and shield, green tunic and a hooded cloak."

"Ok, meet me back here in 90 minutes."

Once I was near Ralberg, Philia came up next to me.

"I've got a bad feeling about him."

"How so?"

"I don't know. He just seems off to me."

"I guess I'll have to trust your feminine intuition."

"So what's your plan, boss?"

"Simple, you go into town and draw her out. We'll establish a rendezvous point before you go in."

 _13 minutes later_

I stood in the field where we planned our rendezvous. Philia came running towards me with the brunette in tow.

"Here you go boss." She said.

"Perfect. Head back to base; I'll take it from here."

"What's going on here?" Griselda said.

"It's nothin' personal, just business." I said as I put on my mask.

"I don't want any trouble; I'm just trying to sell this ring." She said, slowly reaching for her sword.

Before I could say anything she activated _Vorpal Strik_ e. I jumped out of the way as she sailed past me, I activated _Rage Spike_ and when I was in the middle of it, her _Vorpal Strike_ ended and she was on her knees. She rolled out of the way and struck me in the back, when the sword skill ended.

 _'Bitch!'_

I swung heavily at her, but she blocked it with her shield, she then pushed me with her shield and swung at me. I blocked it with my sword and we both pushed towards each other in a clash.

"Please just give up, make this easier for me." I said, grunting.

"I'm not going to let you kill me." She said, pushing harder against me.

I punched her in the stomach, ending the clash and causing her to bend over. Then I activated _Gengetsu_ kicking her in the head and launching her back.

"I really don't take joy in this, you know." I said, walking towards her.

I could tell she was trying to move but she was still dazed. I grabbed her shield arm and cleaved it off with my sword.

"AAAAAGGGAGHHHH!" She screamed.

I pulled her up onto her feet and activated _Vertical Square_. As my final strike hit Griselda, I noticed her guild symbol. A golden apple, same as the clients.

SNAP!

I looked towards the sound and saw a player sticking his head out from behind a tree, he bolted towards town the instant I looked at him, and I chased after him. I threw a pick at him but missed, he was getting closer to Jaileum so I started throwing picks until I had no more picks left.

 _'Damnit he made it inside the town. Maybe I can still catch him'_

It was then I had the worse idea in the world. I continued running, straight into the town.

 _'What the hell am I thinking, my cursor will stick out and the players can kill me because of it.'_

The witness started screaming, calling out for help. There's nothing I can to slow him down, I can only hope that he'll tire himself out running. I looked behind me and saw a mob of players, swords drawn, chasing after me. I looked in front of me and three Dragon Alliance members walked around a corner.

 _'Damn, just my luck. I can't go forward or back and I sure as hell can't go through. My only option is above; from there I'll have a vantage and might be able to give my pursuers the slip.'_

I altered my course and ran up the wall of a nearby building and jumped between two buildings until I was on the roof. I could hear the angry mob gasping in shock. When I landed on the roof I continued chasing the witness around the corner.

 _'How the hell does he have this much stamina? I'll never catch him at this rate... Unless.'_

I opened up my menu and grabbed some rope. After I turned the rope into a noose, I caught up with the witness and threw the rope. It wrapped around the witnesses neck, I tugged on the rope knocking him off his feet, and I started reeling him in, as I lifted him off the ground and he started kicking and squirming. I reeled him in and tied the rope around a smoke stack on the building.

 _'I may not be able to kill him here. But I can make him suffer, give him a taste of what could, would happen if he says anything.'_

After a while he stopped squirming, I heard the death sound effect and looked over to the empty noose.

 _'How the hell?!'_

"OH GOD! He killed him, he killed him in a safe zone." Said a bystander.

"The towns aren't safe anymore." Said another bystander.

 _'How's that possible? Perhaps I can use this to my advantage.'_

I stood on the building and looked out at the terrified crowd that had gathered, letting them fear the person who managed to kill in a safe zone.

"Gaze upon your death, mortals! There is no where you can run that we can't get you!"

I used a teleportation crystal to return back to floor 19, and back to the client.

"Did you complete the contract?" Grimlock said.

"Yeah I did, but while I was fighting her, I noticed she had the same guild symbol as you."

"I... Um...I." Grimlock stuttered.

"I don't like being lied to. And because of that, my payment has doubled. Now, why did you send me to kill one of your guild members?"

"Griselda was a part of our guild. Then she killed my wife, lured her somewhere secluded and drugged her. She then left my Yuuko to be killed by monsters. But nobody in the guild believed me." There was silence for a moment.

"Now you see if you told me that, then everything would be fine and dandy. But since you lied to me, I want something else."

"I don't have any more money to give you." Grimlock said.

"Fine, then give me the ring."

"Ring?"

"The ring she was trying to sell. Since she's in your guild, when she died any and all unequipped items would have been sent to your guilds shared inventory." Grimlock was silent for a moment.

"Fine." He said, opening his menu.

"Don't even think about scamming me. You don't want to feel the wraith of Laughing Coffin."

Grimlock's hands started shaking as he transferred over the ring. I inspected the ring. _Increases wearer's agility by 20._

"Pleasure doing business with you."

 _Headquarters_

As I walked into my room, I dropped my sword and jacket on the floor and collapsed onto my chair.

"Long night?" Said a familiar voice, as the door opened and closed.

"More like a long week." I said leaning my head back.

"Gaze upon your death, mortals." She giggled.

"Shut up. It was heat of the moment."

"Whatever you say sweetie."

"So, what was the job?" The girl said as she sat on my lap.

"I'd rather not talk about my day. I'd rather sit here, just me and you."

I leaned in and kissed her. Then the doorknob turned.

"Boss, I have- oh sh-!"

As the door opened and Kai stuck his head out, a knife was thrown at the door.

"I love you, Sachi." I chuckled.


	6. The Stone

_A month ago_

I walked into town on Floor 42 to stay at an inn for the night. I needed to sleep in a real bed since there wasn't actually a bed in the cave. As I approached the inn I heard an unpleasant voice.

"Kii-bou!"

 _'Damnit.'_

I turned around to see Argo walking up to me.

"Argo."

"Where've you been? You've been missing for months."

"I've been busy. "

"Doing what?"

"Something above your pay grade."

"Is that any way to talk to your favorite info broker?"

"What do you want Argo?" I said impatiently.

"I felt compelled to give you a heads up. I've heard a rumor that there's an event on Christmas Eve. The reward for the event is a stone that can resurrect a dead player."

"What?"

"I know it's crazy, someone could use it to bring back a strong player after a boss battle."

"Yeah, after a boss battle. Thanks for the info, Argo."

The next day I went back to the cave.

"Ok ladies, circle up!" I shouted.

"What's going on, boss?" Said PoH.

"I just got word that there's an event in December. The reward for this event is an item, and I want it."

"Why are you telling us this if the event is in a month?"

"Because I want all of you to be ready for the day of the event. My plan is, if possible, is to stage a stand off while a small group goes and completes the event. So I want you guys to start farming."

"What's so important about this event reward?" Said Xaxa.

"That's need to know, and you don't need to know. Now, everyone get back to work."

I walked into my office and a few seconds later, Sachi came in.

"Now that we're alone. You mind telling me why the event is so important?"

"It's a stone, rumored to be able to revive a player." I said sitting in my chair.

"What makes you think it will actually work?"

"Hope. I need it to end the cycle."

"The cycle? I don't understand, what cycle?"

"Sach, I need the stone so that if there's a chance of escape, I will be alive to see it. So I can put a bullet in Minetaka's head."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Minetaka beat me senseless. His father probably beat him, and his father before him. The cycle ends here. I must be better than this. Everyone in that cycle must die."

 _Present Day_

I was pacing around my office, thinking of ways to beat the men for not bring me the location. As I heard my office door open, I threw a pick next to the door, nearly hitting Kai's head. Kai hid behind the door and closed the door slightly.

"We found a guy who knows the location." He said in a startled voice. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'll take care of him."

As I walked past the door, I grabbed my pick out of the wall and proceeded down the hall. In our torture chamber was a shirtless man strapped to a chair.

"Who the hell are you?" He said as he lifted his head.

"Where's the location?"

"Piss off."

I chuckled, and then cracked his skull with my elbow.

"I can hurt you in ways you can't even imagine. Let me show you."

I grabbed his finger and ripped it out of place. His screams echoed throughout the cave.

"I also learned how to **snap** it, back into place... Where's the event location?"

"Go to hell!"

"Wrong answer."

I dislocated his shoulders and about 25 other bones in his body before grabbed his fingers.

"Start. Talking."

I placed my thumb on his knuckles and pulled his fingers back.

"I'll never tell you!"

"Oh, you will."

I pulled his fingers back, the farther I pulled the louder he screamed. After a while, I place his hand on the arms of the chair and whipped his fingers backwards.

 _ **SNAP!**_

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"God damn, it seems that I didn't just break your fingers, but I also snapped all five metacarpal bones in half."

The man started squirming in the chair.

"You gonna start talking, or am I gonna have to break your other hand?"

"The Forest of Wondering, near a fir tree."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not. That's where the event is."

"Shh, it's ok. It's all over now." I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.

I patted his shoulder, then, _**SNAP!**_ I spun his wrist 180, and walked away as he screamed out in pain. Watching from the hallway was Kai and Philia.

"The hell are you two looking at?"

I walked into a room full of people.

"Ok ladies, gather 'round. I've just received word that the event location has been found. It's on the 35th floor near the Forest of Wandering. When we get there, if no one else is there we'll all go in. If not the strongest fighters will go and fight the boss while the rest of you fend off the other players. Any questions? No? Good, let's go."

 _Forest of Wandering_

We arrived just outside the event location, and just as we were going to walk through, I heard a sound behind us. I turned around and saw some familiar faces. A girl in white and red and a boy clad in black armor with a sword on his right hip.

"Ah, what did I say sweetie? I told you _Dúr magor_ would here." He said.

"I've got to say I had my doubts. How much do we owe you?"

"Nothing. Just give me a shot at him."

And just like that, I found myself put through a tree and the stranger standing over me.

 _'Bastard'_

I kicked him and went for my sword, but I didn't have my sheath. I looked around but I couldn't find him.

"Is it true you are every bit as deadly as Jason says you are?" The voice echos throughout the forest.

"Face me you coward!" I yelled.

"Let's put that to the test." He dropped to the ground with a thud. "You and me."

I bolted towards him and started throwing punches. Which he dodged with ease and then cut me with a dagger.

"Come on that's all you've got?"

I started punching more erratically while he dodged easily. When I realized what he was doing, I feigned a right hook and then kicked with my left hitting him in the ribs. Seeing my opening, I started punching him in the stomach. He headbutted and kneed me in the face, knocking me back.

"You hit like a bitch." He said.

He grabbed my sheath, which was on his back, and tossed it in the middle of us.

"There are rumors that you are an honorable man. I wish to put that to the test. Take your weapon and fight me one on one."

I grabbed my sword and ran towards him swinging and managed to get a few hits off of him. He kicked me back and grabbed his sword, in the zatoichi style, and charged towards me. He activated _Rage Spike_ , but sailed past me as I rolled out of the way. I threw one of my picks at him but he cut it down the middle before it touched him. I hit him with three heavy strikes, but he blocked two of them with his own heavy attacks and we clashed, sword against sword.

"What are you planning?"

"Oh, I'm just stalling for time."

Just then I felt pain in my stomach and the paralysis icon appear. When I looked down, I saw one of my picks in my stomach and fell over.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I go by many names, Ringmaker, Hir -o galad a gwathren. But you can call be The Destroyer."

"Ringmaker? Really? And what was that other one? Was that elvish?"

As I talked, I slowly reached my hand into my pocket to grab a crystal.

"Oh no you don't." He said grabbing my hands and cutting them off.

"The Dragon Alliance got to the stone before us." Said a familiar voice.

"How the hell did they get the stone?"

"They snuck by us while we were fighting the LC."

"Damn it"

"What now?"

"Now we head home and try to negotiate with them."

The boy and Asuna started walking away.

"See cin os-, Kirito."

Asuna looked at me with a shocked look, and then kicked me in the head before walking away.


	7. Blacksmith

Apologizes in advance.

* * *

It's been a month since the Christmas event. I've had my guys looking for "The Destroyer", but nothings popped up. I heard some commotion outside and went to investigate. I walked in on one of the guys killing our blacksmith. I grabbed some rope and threw it around his throat then reeled him in, as I placed my foot into his back and pulled harder on the rope. After awhile, he exploded and the rope dangled from my hand.

"What the hell is going on here!?"

"Smithy and Geoff were fighting over something, Smithy found." Philia said.

"What's so important about what the smith found?"

"Supposedly it's a smithing book. And only a skilled blacksmith can identify the book."

"Well, you've peaked my curiosity. Where is this book?"

"I think I heard them say it's in possession of a mercenary group."

"Professional courtesy be damned, I want that book. Find me that book." I turned to Philia. "Come along Philia. We need to acquire an asset."

 _Five minutes later_

"So who are we looking for?"

" _You_ are hunting for a skilled blacksmith."

"How will I know who's a blacksmith?"

"A spy spotted a highly skilled smith on the 50th floor."

"How will I know where they are?"

"Trust me, you'll know when you see them."

I saluted Philia as she walked into town.

While she was gone, I decided to get some more information about this book. I opened my menu and messaged The Don, a member of the Pact that was formed between me, him, a man named du Casse, and another man I never met.

 _ **"** Hey Don, what do you about a Book of Blacksmithing? **"**_

 _ **"** There's common ones you can buy in shops. Then there's a unique one that requires a skilled smith. **"**_

 _ **"** Latter. **"**_

 _ **"** Not much, though I did hear that someone supposedly found it. **"**_

 _ **"** And the name and location of the supposed founder? **"**_

 _ **"** Kage, fort on the 25th floor. I'll send the coordinates. **"**_

I messaged Philia and told her to take the smith to the 25th floor, and we'll meet outside of town.

"Here we go."

I bolted into town and jumped rooftop to rooftop until I was near the gate. I hit the ground and rolled into the teleportation gate, I called out my destination. Upon arriving on the 25th floor, I took to the rooftops again and made my way out of town. Philia was waiting for me near a big tree, while the smith unconscious at her feet.

"How'd you get her out without drawing attention?"

"I said she was drunk and I was escorting her home."

"Resourceful as always."

I propped the smith up against the tree and lightly patted her cheek.

"Wakey wakey pinky. We have work to do."

When she woke up and opened her eyes she started to panic, but I managed to put my hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

"If you try to call out for help, we will kill you. Understand?"

She shook her head and I removed my hand.

"What do you want with me?"

"I'm glad you asked. It's really quite simple, we need you to identify a book. But we don't have it, so you'll be accompanying us to its location."

"What's so important about this book?"

"That's classified. All you need to know is that if you cooperate with us, we will let you go. I promise."

Philia and I took the smith towards the fort.

"You're never gonna get with this. I know powerful people, who will hunt you al-"

 **SMACK!**

I spun around and backhanded her, causing her to fall to the ground holding her face.

"You would do well to remember who's in control here, Liz. I will not tolerate being talked back to, or threatened. Even if it's an empty one."

Phillia helped her off the ground as I continued walking. After a couple of minutes, we arrived just outside of the fort.

Kai came up behind us a few seconds later and I pulled him aside.

"We found so information about the book. Apparently there are five of these books and they're suppose to be found on one of upper floors. Floors the Clearers have yet to clear, I'm talking 60 plus."

"So how do they have one now?"

"That's the thing. No one knows."

"So your telling me that somehow, a book from one of the higher floors, managed to find its way down here and no one knows how or why?"

"...Yes."

"Strange."

Kai and I went back to the girls before heading into the fort. The fort was eerily empty, so we stayed vigilant as we progressed through. At the end of the fort were three people. One looked like a leader and the others looked like guards.

"That must be Kage. Kai, you're with me. Philia, you stay with the smith."

Philia opened her mouth to say something then stopped herself when she thought about our situation.

"Give us five minutes, tops."

"You take Kage. I'll deal with the guards." Kai said as we drew our swords.

I charged towards Kage with _Rage Spike_ , slashing his back, and threw a pick at the nearest guard.

"You must be Laughing Coffin's leader. It'll an honor to kill you." Kage said.

He ran towards me with his sword rised.

I rolled out of the way and blocked as he swung down on me. I pushed back and kicked him in the chest, knocking him back.

Once on my feet, we ran towards one another and clashed.

"Ugh, you're stronger than I expected." Kage said.

"And you're weaker than I expected."

I managed to grab his sword out of his hand, cutting his hand off, and started slashing him to pieces. He was on his knees with a sliver of health left, with a blade against his throat and another aimed at his heart.

"What are you waiting for? Do it!"

I plunged the sword into his heart while removing his head. I put his sword into my inventory and looked towards the table where a book was. The book looked ancient, nothing like a blacksmithing book and when I opened it, the pages were blank.

"Liz! Get over here."

Liz walked over and I tossed her the book. As soon as she grabbed the book and looked at it, it started to change.

"Is it a blacksmithing book?" I asked.

"It's a _Master_ blacksmithing book."

I grabbed the book and flipped through it.

 _'Specialized armor, weapons. How to affect the design. There's a lot of interesting stuff in here.'_

"You got what you wanted. You said you'd let me go once you had the book."

"Change of plans."

I snapped my fingers and Kai and Philia knocked Liz out.

"Take her back to HQ. And make sure her friends list is erased, if it isn't already."

As they walked away, I looked at the book one last time.

"Oh yes, she will be a great addition to Laughing Coffin. Once I condition her."

* * *

A few hours later, Lisbeth awoke in a strange room with her arms and legs tied to the bed. Kirito emerged from the shadows.

"Wha-? What's going on? Where am I?" She said.

Kirito was silent. Then he cracked a smile.

"Hell, my dear. You are in hell."

He walked closer to the bed.

"I'm gonna break you, hurt you in a way that doesn't leave any marks. I'm going to break your soul, and then build you back up again."

Kirito snapped his fingers and five men walked into the room.

"Go nuts, boys."

The men smiled and as Kirito left, there was the faint sound of zippers being unzipped.


	8. The Burnt down Village

"I say we attack when they least expect it."

"And I say that's a horrible idea."

"It would be so easy. After they finish killing the boss, we immediately attack, and don't give them time to recover from the fight."

"I said no. I am not risking men. The Clearers bring their heavy hitters and a lot of players to the boss'. We wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"But what if w-"

"I said no, Kai!"

Kai stormed off in a fit of rage. I leaned over my desk and took a deep breath.

"Is everything ok, Kirito?" Sachi said.

"I'm fine, honey." I sighed. "I just need to take a walk."

I turned around and walked out of the cave.

 _Five minutes from the Orange City_

As I walked down the path to the city, I heard a noise. A black streak appeared behind a tree and came towards me. But before I could act, it leaped over me and knocked me to the ground. I got up and went for my sword, come to find out it was missing.

"I didn't come here to fight. I just want to talk." Said a familiar voice.

I looked up and saw the guy who attacked me on Christmas Eve, holding my sword.

"What do you want?"

"I came here to try and convince you to put an end to all of this. To put it behind you."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because you're the only person who's trapped here, all of us are trapped here against our will, and we've all lost people we care about."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you've lost people you cared about, so have I. I had my wife and guild taken from me, by the bastards in that city."

"Stop trying to relate to me! We are nothing alike."

"I disagree. I think we're more alike than you think. We're both grieving, we're both seasoned gamers, and we were both going down a dark road. The only difference is how we cope with it."

"Just. Shut. Up already."

"I'll take it I can't convince you to stop this?... Shame." He sighed.

He took a few steps towards me and stabbed my sword into the ground, and walked back.

"I just want you to know. I gave you an out." He said drawing his sword.

I carefully walked over and grabbed my sword, then I charged towards him.

"Nice try." He said jumping over me and cutting my back.

I grabbed and threw some picks at him, and as he cut them, I activated (i)Rage Spike and flew towards him. Just as he cut the last pick, I slashed across his chest.

"Bastard."

We ran towards each other and I went for a swing, but slid underneath my sword and cut my leg. Enraged, I started swinging at him heavily. He managed to deflect my attacks, but it soon began to overpower him and I amputated his arm and leg.

"Surrender." I said placing my sword against his throat.

"No."

He whistled and out of nowhere a giant cat appeared and clawed at my back. He jumped up, spun around i mid-air

"Teleport! Granzam!" He yelled as he grabbed his cat.

I stood there and rubbed my back as I tried to remember why he looked so familiar.

 _'Black armor, sword held in zatoichi position, giant ass cat-'_

"Son of a bitch. That was the Lone Swordsman and the guy I sold those two ninja guys to."

I contemplated on it as I walked to the City.

"How come I didn't recognize him before? It's hard to forget someone you sold people into slavery to."

As I walked into the City, one of the Don's men approached me.

"Sir, the boss needs your help. There's a man we tracked to the 20th floor, but we've lost him there."

"Sure, I'll take care of it. Do you have any idea as to where he would be?"

"To be honest, I have no idea. He could be hiding in town where we can't get to him, or he could be in the Area hiding in some ruins or something."

"Hmm, if I were on the run, I'd probably hide in the Area. Players will be able to attack me, but the floor is big so I have more places to hide... Maybe you can help me. See if you can't get some men outside of the towns."

"Sure thing, sir."

As he walked away, I made my way down to the 20th floor. Once in town, I started rooftop hopping until I was in the Area.

 _'Now, if I was hiding outside of town. Where would I hide?'_

I started walking towards the ruins of an old fort. Some of the walls were knocked down, part of the roof collapsed. All that rubble can offer some decent cover. I looked around the ruins for any places to hide. I closed my eyes and tried focusing on my surroundings, and heard the sound of rubble being moved slowly above.

"Hmmm."

Soon, the sound got louder as the person I'm hunting, dropped down and tried to attack me. I drew my sword and plunged it into his chest. He kicked off my chest and started running away. I followed after him, as he ran through the forest. He ran towards town and upon seeing the Don's men outside the town, he turned and went towards a lake.

 _'He heading to the lake, that should make things easier.'_

I grabbed a pick and threw it at him as he approached the lake. He fell to the ground paralyzed.

"Please, god, don't kill me!" He yelled.

"What exactly did you do to piss off the Don?" I said as I approached him.

I don't know. Talia told him to kill me for no reason."

"Geez, That doesn't sound like Tally at all."

"Please, I want to live."

"Fine, I'll let you live."

"Really?"

"Nope."

I picked him up and dunked him into the lake, and placed my foot on the back of his head. He couldn't even squirm since he was paralyzed. After a few minutes of baptizing him, he pixelized.

"Ah, well, this was a good walk. Now to head back home."

 _2 minutes later_

As I walked back, I saw a rock with a familiar symbol on it. The omega symbol. I noticed that Shiva had the same symbol on his arm. Next to the rock was a path leading towards the forest.

"I wonder."

I started walking down the path. At the end of the path was a burnt down village.

"What the hell happened here?"

I searched the burnt down village for any clues as to what happened. There were burnt down building every where and even a graveyard full of tombstones. On some of the graves read:

 _Robin- Loving wife._

 _War Jackson- Amazing friend and strong warrior._

 _Eir- Loving sister and friend._

I decided to check the building that was the least burnt down. I carefully bashed down the door and inside was what looked to be a bedroom.

"What if this is Shiva's place."

I looked around the room and noticed papers with familiar writing on it. I'd seen the writing before, but I don't know where, or what it means. I saw a ring on the floor and picked it up.

"The craftsmanship on this ring is amazing. I wonder who made it?"

 **Thud**

I turned to the door.

 _'The sound came from outside.'_

I drew my sword and walked into the middle of the village. In the surrounding forest, I saw something strange: Legs.

"What the?" I said as I moved towards the tree. I looked at who the legs belonged to. A young girl unconscious on the ground. She looked around eight years old, with black hair and wearing a white dress.

"The hell?" I said kneeling down next to her, and poking her cheek.

 _'She's got a player cursor, so she's a player. But how did she survive here for so long? How long has she been in the Area?'_

I opened my menu and messaged Philia to meet me at the village. And a few minutes later, she arrived.

"What's wrong, boss?" She asked.

"There's a girl here. I want you to take her to Alastair's."

"Can I ask why you so concerned with a random girl?"

I took a deep breath and pointed at the girl.

"Look at her, Philia. She's probably no older than eight. No child should ever have to be abandon like this, especially at such a young age. Never again. Now do your god damn job and take her to Alastair's."

Philia had a shocked look on her face, which was justified seeing as I had never talked to her like that. She slowly walked over and picked up the girl before walking away.

"Never again."

Just as I was about to teleport out, something caught my eye. Embedded in the tree adjacent from me was a dagger. Upon examination I realized the dagger belong to someone I knew: du Casse.

 _'Why is one of du Casse's knives here? Did he have something to do with the burning of the village?'_

I stuck the knife back into the tree and teleported away.

After parkouring around town, I climbed up the chapel that Alastair owned for some unknown reason, and opened the trap door. I hopped down onto the rafters, and I hear two familiar voices.

"I don't know what's gotten into him, Sachi. I asked him one simple question and he yelled at me."

"Don't take it personally. When he was eight years old, his abusive, drunk uncle started beating him. His sister never intervened, and he was too afraid to say anything. The beatings never stopped, and he's felt abandoned and alone ever since."

I decide to make my presence known, so I jumped down from the rafters and hit the ground with a thud.

"Did somebody summon the devil?"

"Kirito...how much did you hear?" Said Sachi.

"Enough. Where's the girl?"

"She's over on one of the pews."

As I walked over to the pew, I sat down next her.

 _'She looks so peaceful sleeping there.'_

"What should we do with her?" Sachi asked.

"I say we either leave her here and have Mary look over her. Or we can take her home and watch her there."

"Well if we're considering leaving her here, we should probably talk to Alastair."

"You two go ahead. I'll stay here with the girl."

As the girls left, I started sorting through my inventory. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something.

"You're awake." I said closing my menu. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

The girl shook her head.

 _'She looks scared. I shouldn't bombard her.'_

"I see... How about your name?"

"N-Name? My name... Yu-i? Yui? My... name is Yui." She said.

"Yui? That's a nice name. Do you think you can tell me why you were near that burning village?"

"I dunno. I dunno anything."

"That's too bad. I don't think I told you my name, I'm Kirito."

"...Ki-to?"

"It's Kirito. Ki-ri-to."

"...Ki-hi-to?"

"Yeah, it maybe a little difficult to say. How about you call me whatever feels right."

"..Papa."

"What?"

 _'She thinks I'm her father? It would break her if I told her I'm not her father, and I'm not gonna break a kid's heart.'_

"That's right Yui, I'm your papa."

Yui's face lit up. Just then, Sachi walked out.

"And that's mommy." I said pointing to Sachi.

"What?" She said.

I chuckled as I saw the look on her face.

"One big happy family."


	9. Old Friend

"So, let me get this straight. This guy that has been harassing me for about a month, has been a problem for you for nearly half a year? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"I didn't really put two and two together."

"So, how come you haven't been able to find him?"

"We haven't been able to track him. Hell, I've even sent the Widow after him."

"You sent the Black Widow after him? And he's still alive? Who the hell is this guy?"

I sighed. "Back to square one. Oh, wait, I'm still at square one."

I left the City and went home.

 _"Sachi!"_

 _I ran over and placed her head on my knee. The elementals arm had stabbed through Sachi and went into my chest. I pulled out a crystal just before she could explode._

 _"I'm sorry, Sachi." I said trying to hold back tears. "I couldn't save them."_

 _"Kirito, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known this would happen." She said._

 _"I promise you, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe."_

" _Kirito!_ Kirito!"

I opened my eyes and saw Sachi shaking me.

"Sorry, must have dozed off."

"Yui just fell asleep. We have about an hour."

Sachi sat on my legs and kissed me. Then the message icon appeared in front of me.

"Frigging clam jammer." Sachi sighed as she got off of me.

I opened my menu and checked the message.

 **"** _Hey, boss. I just saw some players go into the Area. Wanna go hunting?_ **"**

"Duty calls." I sighed.

I kissed Sachi and walked out of the house. When I got to Kai's location, I find him in a tree.

"It's been a while since I went hunting." I said after I climbed the tree.

"Look, there they are." Kai said pointing.

Three players were walking the forest. Then suddenly, a blade pierced my chest and I was pulled out of the tree. And I was dragged across the ground. When the blade was pulled out, I stood up and looked at my surroundings.

"Hello, Kirito." A voice said disgustedly.

The voice walked out of its hiding spot. A tall boy with messy brown hair, and crazy, sleep deprived eyes stood in front of me.

"Keita."

 _"Kirito, Sachi! I just bought the house... Where is everyone else?" Keita said._

 _"They're... They're dead, Keita."_

 _"What? What are you talking about? What do you mean they're dead?"_

 _"They wanted to impress you by getting some cor to buy furniture. So they decided to go into a dungeon, and..." I tried to hold back tears. "and we trigger a trap room."_

 _Keita clenched his fist._

 _"I trusted you, Kirito. I trusted you to protect them!"_

 _"Keita, it's not Kirito's fault. He-"_

 _"Shut up, Sachi! I never want to see either of you again. As far as I'm concerned, both of you are dead to me."_

"You took everything from me!"

"They were my friends too, Keita. I know I should have told you guys the truth... but you were the closest thing to a family I had, and I didn't want to lost you."

"Well, you did a fantastic job at that. You killed the entire guild. You need to die. I'm going to kill you and make sure you never hurt someone like you did to me."

Keita charged towards swinging and I dodged out of the way.

"I'm not going to kill you... Join us."

"Stand down, Keita." Said a voice. "You don't stand a chance against him."

"Stay out of this Shiva! This doesn't concern you."

Keita kept swinging and I kept dodging. I could see in his eyes he really hates me. Why doesn't he join me and Sachi, and we can be together again.

"If it involves Kirito, then it concerns me. We need him alive."

Keita's sword scratched my face, and I jumped back and angrily ran towards him, kneeing him in the face. When he hit the ground, I started beating on him. I broke his nose, orbital bones, jaw, and then activated _Embracern plunging_ my hand into Keita's chest. As his remaining health depleted, I could feel his heart beat around my hand and then cease as he exploded.

"God damnit, Keita." Said Shiva.

I felt a burning feeling around my arm, and when I looked down, I saw a chain wrapped around my wrist. The chain tugged me around and then I got kneed in the face. Once I recovered from the knee to the face, I looked up at my attacker: Shiva, with a chain around his forearm. He then punt kicked me in the face, launching me back.

"A chain whip?" I said getting off the ground.

"No, a chained blade. A little present from my friend Jason. And if memory serves right, you have a unique skill similar to this."

'How does he know about Dual Blades?'

I drew my sword and activated _Rage Spike_ , and sailed towards him. Shiva rolled out of the way and swung that stupid chain around my legs, tripping me and then he retracted it back to himself. I held up a teleportation crystal, but before I could use it, a blade pierced my hand and broke the crystal.

 _'Damn. He destroyed the crystal. I didn't think that was possible.'_

"Surrender, Kirito. There's no way you're walking out of this the victor."

Shiva charged up and attack and threw his sword, but I got out of the way and the blade got stuck in the ground. I took the opportunity and tugged the chain, pulling Shiva towards me and I stabbed him in the stomach, before he pushed off of me, and knelt down.

"That's the flaw with your skill. The chain gives your opponent a way to knock you off balance."

Shiva flipped his dagger around, so it was in the zotachi position and activated a sword skill. He jumped into the air and I activated _Sonic Leap_ to meet him in the air. Shiva let go of his sword and spun around creating a cyclone, and when our blades collided, it created an explosion that could knock over trees.I slowly and painfully sat up of the ground, just to be impaled in the shoulder by Shiva's chained blade.

"Last chance, Kirito. Surrender."

"Piss off."

"Fine. I'll break your spirit first."

Shiva ran over to me and placed his hand on my face and I was brought back to the day the Cats died. I held Sachi in my arms and rested her head on my knee.

 _"Sachi! Sachi, stay with me!"_

 _"Kirito, this is your fault. You got us killed. I hate you."_

Sachi exploded in my arms, and I collapsed to my knees as my surroundings returned to the forest.

"You couldn't handle that fact that she resented you in her last moments. So you blocked out the memory and imagined that she never died and then you created a little girl that looked like the both of you to form a family. A family to replace your own."

Suddenly, my head began to hurt and I saw Sachi on her knees. I felt restrained and couldn't move, only watch as she was be strangled.

"Sachi!"

Next thing I know I'm waking up in an unfamiliar room with all my equipment and clothes missing. If I remember correctly, I got pissed and attacked Shiva. But Shiva charged up the chain, he pulled me towards him at high speeds and backflip kicked me high into the air. He then tugged the chain, causing me to plummet to the ground, hard enough that I actually bounced off the dirt. Then as I reached the peak of the bounce, he sidekicked me in head and into a tree. Back in present time, a man walked in front of the room I was in.

"Hello, Kirito. My name is Thinker."

"Where the hell am I?"

"You're in the supermax wing of Black Iron Palace."


	10. The Story

It's been two days since my incarceration. My cell had a bed, chair and nothing else. No windows, no door, nothing. Three concrete walls and the thickest sheet of glass in the front of the room, with a small slit for food. I was lying on my bed, when I heard the sound of a familiar voice.

" _Mára sinye_ , Kirito." Shiva said.

"Piss off." I replied.

"Now, now Kirito. I didn't come here to fight. Just wanna talk."

"What could you possibly want to talk about?"

"I'm looking for someone, someone you work with. I'm looking for du Casse."

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. We made a Pact."

"Oh yeah? And what was the pact, to be honest with each other? To have each other's back and not betray one another? Did you know The Don knows my weaknesses, as well as the people and things I care about. Yet, he's never used them against me."

"He said he didn't know much about you."

"Well, he does. But he's never made a move against me. I don't know why, and that scares me." Shiva was silent for a moment. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll answer one of your questions, if you tell me where I can find du Casse."

"I'm being honest with you. I don't know where he is. The guys an enigma; but maybe Talia might know where he is. Talia's-"

"The Don's daughter, I know."

"Now it's your turn. Why are you so hell bent on finding du Casse?"

"A word once given." He sighed. "I'd have to take you back a little less than a year ago."

* * *

 _On the 20th floor, in a village called Sinanju. It was usually serene and peaceful, but on this April morning all that could be heard was the sound of a lovers quarrel._

* * *

"Robin... Amelia!"

Robin swung the door open and stormed out.

"You are impossible!" She yelled.

I sat in my chair and massaged my head. And then my friend Jax walked in.

"You guys keep fighting like that and people are going to think you're a married couple." He said.

"Piss. Off."

"What were you two arguing about?"

"My working habits."

"Again? You two are always arguing about that."

"Noo, I never noticed." I said sarcastically.

"She does have a point. You need to take a break every once in a while."

"Leading a guild is hard work, Jax. And you know that my habit has existed for years."

"Just be selfish for once. That's all she's asking of you."

"Maybe you're right." I sighed.

"Of course I'm right."

"Come on, I need to relieve some stress." I said as I stood up.

We walked out of my room and out of the village.

"Where are we going? Dungeon? Bar?"

"Hunting."

"What are we hunting?"

"Anything. Deer, bear, dragon."

"Can we even eat dragon?"

"Oh, it's delicious. If cooked right."

We saw a group of deer in front of us, and hid behind some trees.

"How do you want to do this? Scare into an ambush?"

"Sure, that always fun."

I equipped my bow and climbed the tree as Jax equipped his two handed sword.

After nodding to each other, I notched three arrows and fired one into a tree on both sides of the deer and one behind them. The deers looked up and ran in the opposite direction of the sounds, right into Jax. Jax activated _Cyclone_ and slashed some of the deer.

"Nice work, Jax." I said as I hopped down.

"What's next?"

"Probably hunt for a few more minutes... Why don't we split up, meet back here in ten - fifteen minutes?"

"Sure."

We split up and I went in the direction of a cave. Inside was a bear.

'Everyone in Sinanju had no problem eating whatever we bring back. But Frederick hates bear meat, so let's piss him off, shall we.'

I equipped my sword and charged in. The bear clawed at me and I responded by vaulting over it and attacking it's back. The bear managed to scratch me across the chest, and I jumped back to evaluate the situation. The bear charged towards me and I rolled out of the way and stabbed it in the ribs. Then I activated (i)Vertical Square and killed it. After I gathered the materials, I turned around and saw that there was a cat behind me. But this wasn't a kitty cat, this was a black panther.

 _'Damn it.'_

I lifted my hand slowly and opened my menu and then pulled out a fish I caught earlier today and tossed it in front of the cat.

"Easy now. I'm not gonna hurt you." I said softly as I stepped back

'Maybe this could be beneficial for me.'

I slowly stepped forward, one slow step at a time, towards the cat. I knelt down and held my breath as I extended my arm, placing my hand on the cat.

"Good kitty."

Under the cat's health bar, my guild symbol appeared.

"I'm gonna name you... Stealth."

I stood up and walked out of the cave.

'I've still got some time left. Let's see what Stealth can do.'

I climbed up the branches of a tree and Stealth followed after me and we moved from tree to tree until we came across a player harassing another.

"Bastard."

I ordered Stealth to attack the harasser, while I climbed down. Stealth pounced towards him, landing on the ground and then tackled him. I ran over and helped the victim up and told them to run. I then turned around, told Stealth to heel and picked the player off the ground.

"Note that I should kill you, hell I _want_ to kill you. But I'm not going to." I pushed on the ground. "Remember that, and remember that I could have easily killed you."

The little weasel scurried off.

After hunting for another minute, I decided to head back. Jax was waiting for me at the meeting spot.

"Woah, what's this? Where'd you get the cat?"

"Found him while hunting and decided to tame him. He's a very good companion."

"What's his name?"

"Stealth."

"Stealth? Really?"

"Shut up, it's funny."

"So what you'd catch?" I said.

"A few more deer and some rabbits. You?"

"I think maybe five deer and a bear."

"Only six? You're getting rusty in your old age."

"One of them was a bear. And I also had to deal with someone harassing a player."

"Ok, ok, I guess I'll have to take your word for it... What next?"

"Let's see, rabbits usually feeds up to four players, deers up to six, and bears easily feed ten. So we'll keep two rabbits, a deer and the bear, and give the rest of the meat to Achilles. Then we could probably sell everything else."

"Sounds good to me. Let's head back home."

We walked down the path for a few minutes, when we saw something alarming.

"Ben... Smoke."

I looked up and saw a huge cloud of smoke.

"It looks like it's coming from Sinanju."

Jax and I sprinted back to the village. When we got there, the village was indeed on fire. And holding someone by the throat and stabbing them in the chest was the man who lit the fire.


	11. Black Iron Palace

_Days since incarceration: 1_

I sat in the ground with my back against the wall.

"So, you're the infamous Aincrad Reaper. You're not very impressive looking."

I looked up and saw a player in prisoner garbs.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"The name's Grove, I'm like you. I'm a leader of a criminal group. Although, I lead the largest criminal group in Aincrad."

"And what do you want?"

"It's really quite simple. I'm getting out of here soon, and I want to expand my coverage. And to do that, I need

Laughing Coffin."

"That's not happening." I laughed.

"Really? I know the Law of Criminals: You kill the leader of an orange guild, you become the leader, or they give you their title. Either way, you're going to give me Laughing Coffin whether you like it or not."

"Again, not happening."

"Well, I guess I'll have to find a way to convince you otherwise... See you around, Kirito."

* * *

 _Days since incarceration: 5_

My whole body glistened with sweat, as I did push ups in my cell. Although exercise doesn't affect anything, it's still a good way to past the time. I heard footsteps coming down the hall, though these were lighter than usual army soldiers. The footsteps stopped in front of my cell, and I looked up to see Asuna.

"What can I do for you my dear?" I said as I stood up, wiped the sweat off my face and sat down in a chair.

"What the hell happened to you? The Kirito I knew was flawed, but he could still muster a little warmth." She said sitting down as well.

"You only knew me for what? Two hours?"

"Yeah, but I knew the tough guy routine was all an act."

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? You came here for a reason."

Asuna was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"What happened to-"

"Quid pro quo, my dear Asunna. Sss-sss-sss-sss-sss-sss."

Asuna had a disturbed look on her face.

"What do I get in return?"

"What do you want?"

"Information. You ask me something, I ask you something. If I like your answer, I'll answer another question. Quid pro quo, yes or no?"

"Fine... What happened to my friend Lisbeth? People say they saw one of your generals take her."

"Ah, Liz. A bit of a spitfire, isn't she? She's alive, and making weapons for the LC."

"No, she wouldn't do that." Asuna said in a shocked whisper.

"She's also quite a screamer, and horny as hell."

I smiled as Asuna stood up and walked closer to the glass, with hatred in her eyes.

"You bastard!"

"Thank you for noticing. Now sit your ass down and answer my question. The Divine Stone of Resurrection, where is it?"

"I don't know." She said as she sat down again.

"Disappointing. You can show yourself out now."

"Last time I checked, the Dragon Alliance had it. Shiva said it was in some sort of safe."

"Hmm, that's a reasonable answer. You've earned another question."

"What's the Pact? Who are the members?"

"The Pact is a group of players who watch each other's backs. We harbor no secrets. It consists of me, the Don, a mercenary named du Casse, and a mystery member that I've not even met. Now, tell me about the Destroyer, and don't lie."

"I don't know what you already know about him. He's an exceptional swordsman, a skilled detective and a master tactician. And he's lost everyone, the woman he loved, friends and his entire guild."

"Hasn't everyone lost someone in this game? Where's his base of operations?"

"Quid pro quo, Reaper. It's my turn. Tell me about your life, before SAO."

I stood up and rubbed my chin.

"You already know about my biological parents, one killed in a car accident and other in childbirth the same day. So, I was raised by my mom's older sister and her husband. A year later, my cousin was born." I paused for a moment. "It's funny, a few years ago I find a picture of the day Sugu was brought home from the hospital. I was sitting on the couch holding her in my arms, and in the picture she's smiling at me. And I couldn't help but think 'She was so adorable and innocent back then. And now, she just stands there and watches me get beaten to death by my uncle'. It makes me wonder what I did to her that would cause her to hate me like that. How could she do that to her own brother?"

I paused for dramatic effect, before turning back to Asuna.

"Anyways, how about you? Same question."

"You already know about my life. Why do you want me to tell you again?"

"Humor me."

"Well... Like you already know, I was born into an rich family. My dad's a CEO of this bigwig company and my mom is a control freak. She controlled every aspect of my life, even tried to get me to marry the most perverted man on earth."

"She sounds like a real bitch."

"The Queen. But it makes sense, she was born on a rice farm and doesn't want me to be like her."

"Like her? She was the daughter of a rice farmer, you're the daughter of a bigwig. If anything, she's a pageant mom."

"How do you mean?"

"If you get into the best schools, marry the richest man. Your ma can live vicariously through you."

"I never really thought of it like that."

"Well, I am a doctor after all."

Seconds later, I heard the sounds of footsteps. I was surprised by the familiar red armor.

"Balls."

"Asuna... Kirito." Klein said looked at Asuna and me.

Asuna looked at Klein and then at me.

"I'm gonna sneak away and let you two talk." She said.

Asuna got up and walked away, as Klein and I stared each other down.

"What can I do you for?"

"I'm trying to recognize the complete stranger in front of me."

"I had to adapt to the game."

"By becoming a murderer?"

"By doing whatever it takes to protect the people I care about."

"What?"

"I have a family. Better than the one in the real world. A wife and daughter I'd protect from anything. At least I think I do. Shiva really screwed me up.

"So where's your ring?"

"Where do you think? In a chest of my stuff somewhere."

"What's her name?"

"Eir."

"Bull. That's Shiva's sister-in-law."

"Good to know. Did Shiva send you here?"

"No, I came here on my own. I wanted to see what you've become, first hand."

"Well, here I am. The Reaper in all his glory."

Just then, a soldier appeared behind Klein, paralyzed him and stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth.

"The hell took you so long?"

"I've only been undercover for a few months. There's only so much I can do."

"Did you get it?"

The soldier did something to the wall and the glass disappeared.

"Of course." He said tossing me a bag. "What do we do with him?"

"Lock him in here. Where's my swords?"

"They're in my inventory. I couldn't get them into the bag."

He dragged Klein into the cell and handed me my swords, as I put on my equipment. I sheathed my swords and slid on my LC ring, before walking out of the cell and closing it with Klein and the soldier inside.

"Remember, north of the compound. Good luck, sir."

"He is not to be harmed in anyway. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

I crept my way down the hall to the main prison area. And using the shadows I snuck around the prison. Just then, lights were shined on me and I was surrounded by players.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The target just came to us."

Grove walked out from the crowd with a smug look on his face.

 _'Damn'_

"This is your last chance, Kirito. Give me Laughing Coffin, or you die."

"Never." I said as I rubbed the ring with my thumb.

"Whoever kills him, gets Laughing Coffin." Grove said.

"Wait!" Someone in the crowd said. "If you want the Reaper, you'll have to go through us."

A small group of criminals emerged from the mob and stood in front of me, facing the Grove.

"Fine, if you wish to die then so be it."

As Grove's men attacked, some of the inmates that sided with me tried to hold them off, as me and the rest made our way to the Guard quarters. I activated _Slant_ to deal with one of Groves men that got in front of us, and used the key that was in the bag to unlock the gate.

"Two of you stay here and hold off any stragglers."

We ran down the hall until we came to a storage room and went inside.

"Now talk. Why did you people stand up for me?"

"You're kidding, right? You're the Aincrad Reaper, one of the most feared player in SAO, right up there with the Don. Any chance we get to fight alongside you, serve you, hell we'd die for you."

"...Look through the chests and grab anything you'll need."

I waited for a couple of minutes while everyone got ready, Then we ran out of the room and continued down the hall.

"Why aren't the alarms going off?" Asked one of the inmates.

"Grove has soldiers in his pockets and must have told them not to sound the alarm." I replied.

We reached the end of the hall the sound of footsteps coming from behind us and to our right.

"What do we do?"

I thought about it for a second and came up with an idea.

"I need four defenders to stand at the end of the hallways. Hold them back."


	12. Dead Knights

After breaking out of Black Iron Palace, we dispersed to slow down the Army. I went through the Area on the 21th floor, and climbed up the labylinth into the 24th. Once there I ran to the one safe houses. I opened the door and closed it behind me.

"...I'm safe."

"Kirito? You're back?!"

Sachi ran towards me but I moved out of the way.

"No, no. You're not real." I said drawing my sword.

"What's wrong, Kirito?" Sachi said taking a step towards me. "Can't handle the fact that you killed me?"

"No, I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to kill you."

I crouched down and grabbed my head. Then all the Cats appeared in front of me and in the background Shiva was smiling like a jackass.

"You killed us!" They said.

"Get away from me!"

They started to swarm around me and I stood up and swung my sword. I felt resistance on the swing, heard the sound of virtual flesh being sliced and then everything came back to normal. Sachi was lying on the floor holding her face, which had a cut from the sword, and tears in her eyes.

"Sachi. I'm-"

"Get out! Get the hell out of here!"

I couldn't argue with her, so I left.

"That went about as well as I expected it to. Honestly, what is with you hitting girls and making them cry?" Shiva said standing outside my house.

"You bastard!" I said activating _Rage Spike_ , but hitting nothing.

"That's not gonna work, I'm in your head Kaz. Tell me, how does it feel to hit a girl you care about? Especially your lover? I mean, my ex-wife was a pain in the arse but I never hit her, never even considered it."

"Piss off."

"Don't get angry at me. I'm not the one who hit my girlfriend."

"You caused me to do it!"

"No, Kirito. You did. I gave you the option to retire and leave this life behind. You could have retired and lived in a nice lake house on the 22th floor, hell, I'd would have even paid for the house."

I turned around and punched a tree.

"Listen, the offer still stands. If you retire, I'll convince Sachi to take you back."

"No. I know you won't do it."

"You _will_ retire. But I guess you'll have to lose everything in order for you to do so."

 _Several days later_

I woke up in the HQ, which felt odd. Even before Sachi kicked me out, I would sleep here while Sachi and Yui slept at one of my safe houses. But since then it feels... different. I walked over to my desk, when there was a knock on the door. I threw a pick, hitting the wall an inch away from Kai's face. He closed the door slightly while cursing and ran away. And then I heard a sigh.

"Ya know, twenty cor says he's going to get back at you for all those times you've done that. Two hundred says he's gonna take something you care about."

"Get out of my head, Shiva." I said throwing a pick at him.

"Hey, don't get pissy with me." He said appearing behind me. "It's not my fault you became your uncle."

I turned around to try and hit him, but he disappeared again. Just then I heard another knock, lighter than the last.

"Kirito?" Philia said poking her head out. "Everything alright?"

"Peachy."

"She still hasn't talked to you?" She said walking in.

"No. And I don't blame her."

"What exactly happened? You broke out of Black Iron, got to one of your safe houses and then attack Sachi."

"It didn't happen like that." I said sitting down. "The day I was imprisoned, I was 'hunting _'_ with Kai. Then Shiva appeared and mopped the floor with me, after which he showed me something, a vision or something. Made me think that Sachi died and that I was imagining she was live."

Shiva appeared in the background with his smug grin.

"I'm having hallucinations where I'm seeing him everywhere. He made me attack Sachi."

"What are you talking about, Kirito? I'm a figment of your imagination, I can't make you do anything." He said.

"You want my advice? Give her sometime. Mean while, you should try and relax, de-stress."

"Thanks Philia."

"Anytime, boss."

 _An hour later_

I took Philia's advice and went to relax in a hotsprings. I removed all my equipment, except my pants, and left my sword embedded in the ground. I sat down and closed my eyes, trying to relieve my stress.

"Do you really think that this will help you?"

"Shut up Shiva."

I sat there for a minute and then was launched out of the hot springs and into a rock. I looked over and saw a small group of players, and the player that was standing near where I was sitting was holding a big ass mace.

"Looks like you let your guard down." He said with a smile.

"Sis, maybe we should contact the Blood Oath." One of them said.

"Relax. We have him outnumbered, seven to one." Said the swordswoman with purple hair.

"She does have a point. Maybe we should flee." Shiva said.

I bolted towards the mace wielder, kicking him in the head and knocking him back. I grabbed his mace and swung it down on his head like a bat named Lucille. Once he died, I looked back at the others who had terrified looks on their faces.

"Y-you dastard!" Said the spear wielder, charging towards me.

I grabbed a pick that was on my belt and, sticking it in between my fingers, I punched them in the stomach paralyzing them. I used their momentum from running to throw them into the hotspring, face down.

"Rush him! He can't take all of us on at once!"

"Damn it." Shiva said.

One of my attackers, a girl, ran away from me in fear. I grabbed another pick and, while vaulting over one of my attackers, threw it and paralyzed her. A two-handed sword wielder and a swordswoman charged towards me and activating swords skills in a cross-fire attack. I easily dodged the attack and went for the second swordswoman, but I was stabbed in to back by a spear.

"Hit him with everything you've gotta!"

Everyone started a cross-fire attack. I pulled myself off the spear, headbutting her, pulled her into her friends sights and jumped over her with her spear while they killed her for me.

"Nori!" Yelled the swordsman.

He ran towards me and I managed to stabbed him a few times. He swung down and, forgetting that I wasn't using a sword, blocked the strike, and the spear was cut in half. And in a brilliant moment of improvisation, I took the bottom piece of the spear and stabbed it into the side of his head, and stabbed the other piece into the bottom of his jaw. And I finished with an _Embracer_ , ripping his heart out. I turned back to see the terror in their eyes. The purple haired swordswoman bolted towards me and I rolled out of the way to grab my sword and even the odds. She flew towards me causing me to wait for her to come closer to stab her in the stomach. She pushed off my sword and I used this opportunity to attack again. I swung at her ten times and only two of them actually hit her. She then kicked me into the second swordswoman's _Slant_.

"Yield."

"I'm not going back."

I headbutted the my attacker behind me and then rammed into my front attacker, shoving my sword into her stomach and slamming her into a rock. I stabbed a pick into her leg and hit the last swordswoman with _Rage Spike_ , and paralyzed her.

"Aiko!" The girl yelled still paralyzed against the rock.

I pulled some rope out of my inventory and, while holding both ends of the rope in one hand and placing my foot on "Aiko's" back, wrapped it around her throat and pulled up. The paralyzed girl burst into tears, watching her sister being killed in front of her. Her pathetic wails echoed through out the springs, along with her sister's gasps for air. I pulled harder, hard enough to crush her larynx, and after a few seconds her gasps stopped and she pixelized. I walked over to the girl that tried to run away picked her up by the throat and walked into the purple haired girl's field of vision. I tightened my grip around her throat causing her to gasp for air. With a flick of my wrist, I snapped her neck. The paralyzed girl's cries got louder as I walked towards her.

"Shut up!"

I kicked her head into the rock and knocked her unconscious. I messaged Philia to meet me here as I proceeded back to the hotsprings. Just as I pressed send, I felt a sharp pain in my back and chest. I looked down and saw the tip of a a familiar looking blade, sticking out of my chest.

"Shite."

In an instant I was ripped off my feet and into a painfully familiar boot. I was then brought to my knees and felt a blade being stabbed in between my shoulder and neck and one dagger in my other shoulder and another in my intestines. A hand was placed on the side of my face and I felt extreme pain where the blades were inserted.

"You just killed six good, kind heart people."

Shiva was different, his eyes were glowing red. He twisted the sword in my shoulder, causing me to cry out in pain.

"Kirito! Kirito!"

I looked over and saw Philia. Shiva was gone, the blades were gone, and I was still on my knees.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"That doesn't matter. I need you to take these two back to HQ." I said pointing to the still unconscious girl and the paralyzed girl on the ground. "Let it be known that she's off-limits."

 _Later that day_

I stood in the Interrogation room as the girl began to wake up.

"Wakey wakey."

The girl look around confused, but then when she remembered what happened, tears began to form.

"You -You killed them. You killed my friends, and my sister."

"You shouldn't have attacked me. Now, who sent you?"

"N-No one."

I walked over and backhanded her.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm- I'm not. We were going to the hotsprings to relax, when we saw you go in."

I backhanded her again for attacking me unprovoked.

"Here's what's going to happen. Normally I'd kill you, but you've impressed me. You've got some ovaries of steel, and I want you to join me."

"Join the sister killer and his band of murderers? I'd rather die."

"You've got spunk. Normally when I want someone to join, we torture them until they're almost like a mindless drone. Usually I have my guys do it, but I'm gonna tend you personally."

I grabbed a knife and dipped it in Johnny's torture poison. Designed to make the victim feel like their bodies are burning from the inside out.

"Let's begin."


	13. The Crow

I walked into the interrogation room. Where one of my interrogators, PoH, had just finished with Yuuki, the girl who attacked me at the hotsprings. To be honest, I was glad that it was PoH, an not Xa. Mainly because of Xa's medical background and his sadistic personality. One time, I saw him remove someone kidney just for fun.

"How's it going?"

"She's a fighter. She's resisting, but a couple more doses of the serum and she's finally break."

"Will she be as complaint as Liz?"

"More or less."

Behind PoH was Shiva with his legs crossed, on the ceiling, and with his jackass smile as always. After awhile, Philia came in.

"Boss. Some sleezy guy wants to talk to you." She said slouching against the wall.

"Thank ya, darlin'." I said walking out the door.

I've never called someone "darlin'" before, let alone to Philia. I seems to me like the more Shiva is attached to me, the more I start becoming like him. But for some reason Shiva has been silent lately. And for some reason, that terrified me. I walked into my office and saw the infamous du Casse. Strangely, I didn't hear anything from Shiva.

"Ah, Kirito, good to see you again. Tell me, how do you keep your hands off that secretary of yours?"

"Secretary?"

"The girl with the light brown hair, blue armor."

"First off, she's one of my generals. And second."

I lifted my hand and showed my ring. Of course, The Pact and the LC don't know where Sachi is, and they don't know about Yui. And they don't know that Sachi divorced me.

"Married man? At your age?"

"What can I say, I'm a ladies man." I lied. "So what brings you here?"

"What, you didn't hear? Our nemesis is dead. Shiva's dead."

"What?"

"Yeah, to be honest, I thought you were the one who killed him. Sending someone to attack him. You've got to tell me how you did it."

My head was a mess. Mainly shock from hearing the news, and the fact that Shiva wasn't behind du Casse like he was when I walked into my office.

"Well, I learned a few tricks here and there." I lied again.

"You've got to teach me some of those tricks. But first, I need a favor of you."

"What do you require of me?"

"There's this girl that my girlfriend had captured, but then Shiva killed her."

"Is this a kill or capture?"

"Capture."

"Where can I find her?"

"You're gonna love this. Granzam."

"What?"

"Yup. Shiva made sure she was protected. And that I couldn't get to her."

"The town, or The Castle?"

"The Castle. Unfortunately, when Shiva died, the Blood Oath moved all of the people he saved to safe houses. I'm telling you, this guy has to be a cop or a vigilante."

"Where would I find her?"

"I think they're keeping her in the basement."

"I'll get on it, Casse." I got up to leave then turned around. "Don't touch Philia. I need her focused."

 _Granzam_

I jumped up to the rooftops, and when I got up there, I saw it. The statue of Shiva in the middle of town. He was in a stance with one foot forward, his right hand on his sheathed sword, and the other hand extended like he was trying to talk someone down. I moved closer to it to get a better look. The statue was about as tall as the surrounding buildings and in front of it was his sword, I think he called it Shadowbane. And on the base of the statue, behind Shadowbane, it looked like there was a crack or a slit or something.

"Way to feed his ego."

I staked out the Blood Oath's HQ. A few guards patrolling, and probably many more inside. There was entrance in the front and a door on the roof. No signs of Shiva in any compromising positions. I jumped onto the roof and approached the door. Just then, the door opened and a knight walked out. I hide behind the wall and looked around the corner. I took a page out of Shiva's book and had a piece of rope wrapped around my wrist before going in. I grabbed the rope and garroted the knight. I walked into the building then I wrapped the rope around the railing and rappelled down the five floor.

"Twentieth room."

As I walked down the hall, I heard two voices and hid in one of the rooms.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do? Shiva said you could do impossible thing."

"There's a limit to my god-like power."

I peeked out and saw Asuna talking to a man with an eyepatch.

"Something seemed unnatural about the way he died. Some giant player walks into town, attacks him, kills a couple player, and then he slams Shiva over his knee. Shiva death creates a shockwave throughout the town, leaving behind his body like Fairytale did."

Tears rolled down Asuna's face as she started to cry and the stranger held her. I'm guessing she's starting to break down.

"Why am I cursed?! All my friends are either dead or kidnapped!"

"Shhh. It's ok Asuna. You're not cursed, just unlucky. Shiva promised to save Liz and stop the Pact, and I plan to finish where he left off. I promise you, everything will get better."

After comforting Asuna for a little longer he disappeared into a murder of crows.

'That must be Jason Crow. The guy who gave Shiva his powers.'

I hid behind the door as Asuna passed and then snuck out. I continued down the hall until I came upon the twentieth room. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see a young looking girl, maybe thirteen years old, sleeping on the bed. I grabbed some cloth that was in the table, picked her up and walked out of the room. I couldn't use a crystal inside, so I'd have to carry her up the stairs to the roof. I got up two flights before I heard voices around the corner. I went against the wall and peeked around the corner, where two knights were talking and moving away from me. I climbed the next three flights, two steps at a time.

"Ssskraw!"

I made to the roof when I heard the sound and when I turned around, I was hit by some sort of small dragon. I got knocked down and probably dropped the girl on her head as she didn't wake up.

"I had a feeling you'd be here." Said a voice. "Without Shiva, the Pact will want to regain power and make up for lost time."

I looked over and saw Crow standing on the other side of the roof, sword drawn. Knowing he wasn't here to chat, I drew my sword and charged at him. He dodged every attack and countered by cutting across my stomach. I tried to put some distance between us, but he charged in swinging. I rolled and sliced his leg, which gave me an opening to get some free hits in. After activating (i)Deadly Sin, he parried and countered with a stab to the stomach. I head butted and elbowed him hard in the head, stunning him and I activated Vertical Square, launching him back, and knocking his sword out of his hand. He landed on one knee, about half a foot away from the edge of the building. I grabbed his sword and running towards him, I plunged his blade into his heart. And when I twisted the blade, his eyes and mouth started glowing with a bright light and a shockwave knocked me back and his lifeless body fell off the roof.

"Some 'god'." I said sitting up. "Didn't even put up much of a fight. And what the hell was that blast?"

I stood up and collected myself and walked over to the still unconscious girl. As I picked her up, Knights flooded out of the door, but before they could get to me, I teleported away with the girl. After landing in the rendezvous floor, I ran out of town before an angry mob started chasing after me. Casse said to meet him a couple miles from the town. I placed the girl on in front of Casse, who was waiting for me.

"Who is this girl anyways?" I asked.

"Can't tell you. This is a private matter for Don."

"What do you mean you can't tell me? We don't keep secrets."

"Well, this has to be a secret."

du Casse picked up the girl and walked away. Leaving me to think about what had happened.


	14. Golden Apple

It was a slightly abnormal day. Business was slow, allowing me some much needed time with Yui. Sachi never told Yui why I hadn't been home in a long time, and has kept me away from them. At least until a couple days ago when Yui was begging to see me. I took Yui up to the lake on the 22nd floor and let her swim for a bit. We were there for about an hour and a half before I got the call.

"Honey, we've got to head back now." I said.

"Aww, but I want to swim longer." Yui said.

"Sorry sweetie. Papa has to go to work. But you can always come here again with Mama."

"Papa, why do I never see you anymore?" She said as she sat on my shoulders as I walked.

"Because mama and I had a fight, and we thought that it was best to put some space between us. It didn't have anything to do with you, I want you to know that."

"Am I going to get to see you again?"

"That depends on your mother. But maybe we could have dinner, tonight or tomorrow. Just the three of us."

As we walked up to the door, I kissed Yui on the head and headed to the teleportation gate.

 **Hill of the Cross**

I had been to the Hill before, on another contract. As I got closer, there was a figure in front of a tree.

"Hello Reaper. It seems fate has brought us together again."

It was Grimlock. The LC's very first contract giver.

"Fate had nothing to do with it. Who do you want me to kill this time?"

"Golden Apple."

"Your guild?"

"Yes, the entire guild."

"Who should I go after first?"

"Yolko and Kainz. They're close to finding out what happened to Griselda and are the primary targets. There's also Schmitt, and the rest of the guild."

"Schmitt? Of the Dragon Alliance?"

"Yes. He left the guild after Griselda's death. I'll give you a thousand five hundred for the primary targets and two thousand for Schmitt, since it may be a tough fight."

"Here's my counter: A thousand per member. Excluding Yolko, Caynz and Schmitt."

"Deal. I'll inform you when I know their exact locations."

 **Marten**

Yolko and Kainz are both in Marten, and should be easy to spot since Yolko has purple hair. I traveled the thieve's highway, through the city. I saw them walking through the center of town and I readied my rope. I swung it over my head and threw it at Kainz's throat and pulled. Kainz was knocked off his feet and I dragged him across the ground and up the building I was on. I stomped the dagger into the roof, pinning the rope and hanging Kainz. Teleporting away and scaling a near by building, I moved to my next target. If these two really believed that Grimlock killed Griselda. Then they would have kept the circle small, and only tell those they truly trusted. Which is probably why Grimlock wants Golden Apple dead. I started going after Dirge, one of the former Apple members that turned to soloing after the dismemberment. I'm not even sure if he talked to Yolko and Caynz after Griselda's death, but I tracked him down anyways. Dirge was in the Area, farming XP and will be easy to kill.I got up behind Dirge, turned him around and pinned him to the tree with a sword in the stomach. Before he could even speak, I stabbed him with an _Embracer_ and crushed his heart. I sheathed my sword and walked back to town. As I walked,

I got a message.

 **"** _What's this I hear about you making a promise to Yui, about the three of us having dinner?_ **"** Sachi said.

 **"** _Yui doesn't understand why I haven't been home in awhile. So I said maybe, we could all have dinner together. Like the old days. It's your choice._ **"**

 **"** _You got Yui's hopes up, so I can't say no without making her upset._ **"**

 **"** _It was never my intention. How about tonight, at the usual time? I'm doing a contract, so I might be a few minutes late._ **"**

 **"** _I know, I know, you're killing people. Yata yata yata_. **"**

 _'Good talk Sachi.'_

I went back to Marten. The KBO had taken Yolko into protective custody and place at least a dozen knights around her room. I positioned myself across from the inn and messaged Grimlock, telling him to stay at an inn on a very low floor. As I sat on the roof, I did some thinking. Grimlock doesn't want people to know he had Griselda killed. If Yolko and Caynz thought it was him, and Yolko told Asuna or one of her knights, then Asuna might be able to find Grimlock and squeeze him to get me. So after I get paid, I'm killing Grimlock. I hid behind a chimney as Yolko opened a window in front of the inn. I took a few steps back when she turned around, and jumped through the open window, rolling and covering Yolko's mouth.

"Scream or call out, and I'll kill you before anyone can save you. Understand?"

Yolko nodded and I removed my hand.

"Miss, is everything alright in there?"

"Oh, everythings alright. I'm such a klutz, I bumped into the furniture."

"I normally don't kill women. But when they threaten to take something away from me, I do what I have to do."

I wrapped my hands around her throat. She reached out and tried to scratch at me and I watched as the light faded slowly from her eyes, then her arms went limp and she exhaled her final breath. A second before she turned to pixels, I heard the door open. I bolted towards the opened window, but felt someone grab the sheath on my back. I unbuckled the sheath, freeing me, and dove out the window, using a teleportation crystal to escape. When I reached my destination, I climbed to the nearest building. My sword was in my sheath and was the only sheath I had with me. So I'd have to head back to HQ and grab one of my old ones.

 **15 minutes later**

I walked into my room at HQ, to find Philia inside.

"Philia, what are you doing?" I said.

"Sorry boss. I forgot that you were out." She said.

"It's fine." I said walking over to my bed and crouching down to pull out a trunk.

"So, how are things with Sachi and Yui?"

I looked over at her, half ready to kill.

"Oh, come on Kirito. The way you were talking about her, when you found her. And what Sachi told me. It seemed logical that you and Sachi would be looking after her.

"No one can know about Yui. Understand?"

"Crystal; But you didn't answer my question."

"It's good. Sachi and I are talking again. And we're having dinner at the house tonight. Damn, it's not here."

"What?"

"My old sheaths aren't in here. But I think I should one back home. Luckily I'm heading there anyways."

"See ya, Boss. Say hi to the missus for me."

I teleported to a half a dozen floors to make sure I'm not being followed. An hour later, I was helping Sachi with the dishes while Yui went to bed.

"Yui looked so happy." I said.

"She misses you." Sachi said.

"Maybe she should get to see me more often."

"I don't know Kirito."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean, the last time you were here, you hit me. Before you left, you were so loving and when you came home you freaked out and cut me with your sword."

I took a deep breath and slouched about the counter.

"The night I was sent to Black Iron. I had a run in with The Destroyer. He was killed a couple of weeks ago. He made me believe that you had died with the Cats, and in your final moments you cursed me and wished that we had never met. I spent the entire week in Black Iron thinking you and Yui were figments of my imagination. So when I saw you in one of the safehouses, I thought I was going crazy, you said that I got you killed, and then I started seeing the Cats behind you."

Sachi was silent, like she was trying to process everything.

"I never wanted to turn into my uncle. Everyone around me, everyone I love always get hurt or dies... You know what? Maybe you are right. You two are better off without me in you're lives. Just let me grab some things and say goodbye to Yui and I'll be out of your hair."

"Kirito." Sachi said.

I went into Sachi's room and grabbed my old sheath, from my Black Cats days, from the trunk under the bed. I walked into Yui's room and crouched next to her bed, where she was peacefully sleeping, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Goodbye little lotus. Papa loves you very much."

I walked to the front door while Sachi followed.

"Kirito, you don't have to leave. Yui will be distraught."

"Maybe. But it's better than me getting the two of you killed."

"Kirito, please."

"Goodbye Sachi."

I walked out of the house, leaving the only two people I've ever loved behind, in order to protect them from their greatest threat: Me. I tracked Schmitt to the Hill of the Cross after I killed another member of Golden Apple. He was kneeing down in front of the tree, which felt like a trap. I got behind him and lifted him up by the throat.

"Hello, you bastard." I said.

"Kirito. So you're the one killing the former members of Golden Apple."

"Congrats. You're not as dumb as I thought you were."

I heard a sword skill behind me, and rolled out of the way.

"Asuna, don't you know it's rude interrupt blood business?"

Then out of no where, an arrow went through my main sword hand. Schmitt equipped his lance and shield and prepared to attack with Asuna. I managed to equip a second sword and deflect Asuna's attack with the sword in my left hand. Schmitt charged at me and I vaulted over him, and attacked from behind. I kicked him in the back and pushed off of him, sending him into a tree, and swung at the Vice Commander. We trade strikes and clashed, then Schmmit got up and swung at me from the left. I spun around and blocked the horizontal sweep with my first sword, while still blade to blade with Asuna. Blade to blade to blade to blade with the sub-leaders of the KBO and DDA, both putting all of their weight against me, while I have my back a facing them. I pushed against Asuna and stabbed Schmitt in the back, then went crazy, slashing him in every direction. Then two arrows were fired and I cut both of them and vaulted over Schmitt and slash him up the middle of his face. I plunged both swords into him, then grabbed his lance and stabbed him in the stomach. I pulled it out, blocking the Vice Commander and stabbing her. I broke the lance over my knee, and shoved one half up through his jaw and the other half into the side of his head. Schmitt fell to his knees and looked up at me.

"You bastard."

"You have no idea."

Schmitt exploded into pixels. I grabbed my swords and sheathed them.

"You son of a bitch!"

Asuna charged at me, swinging wildly. I dodged them easily, and when did a thrust I moved out of the way, causing her to trip.

"What are you waiting for? Go ahead and kill me."

"No. I'm gonna let you live with the fact you failed to kill me. See you around, princess."


	15. The Ball

I walked into The City, where I arranged to meet with Grimlock. He was in the back room. I walked in and closed the door.

"Yolko, Caynz, Schmitt and everyone else you wanted dead, are dead."

"Excellent. Here's your payment, plus the bonus."

As Grimlock got up, I wrapped my arm around his throat and covered his mouth and nose. He squirmed around a bit then went limp. I released his unconscious body and used his hand to open his menu. I took anything of value on him and stabbed him through the heart. I walked out and went back to HQ. I collapsed into my bed and fell asleep. The next morning there was a knock on my door.

"Go. Away." I said.

When the door opened, I threw a pick, which was caught by Philia.

"I'm guessing you've had a bad night." She said pocketing the pick and closing the door.

"What gave it away?" I said sarcastically.

"Really, it's the fact that you're here and not with the girls."

"They're better off without me. Everything I touch turns to ash."

"I think I know what might cheer you up."

"And that is?"

"There's a party tonight on the 40th floor."

"There's one flaw with that plan. Everyone knows what I look like. And even if they didn't, why would I go?"

"It's a masquerade party, everyone's wearing masks. And it's a good way for you to take your mind off of everything."

"I don't have a suit."

"You can pick one up at Ashley's, along with my dress."

"I don't know where to get a mask."

"You can have Liz make you one."

"But I don't know how to dance."

"I can teach you."

"You're not gonna take no for an answer, are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine, I'll go. I'll get our clothes."

"And I'll get the masks. Appreciate it Kirito." She said smirking.

"But you owe me."

"Naturally."

As I walked out of my room, Kai walked up to me.

"So what's this I hear that you fought both Asuna, and killed Schmitt last night? Single-handedly?"

"Merely an exaggeration."

"I don't think so. Everyone's talking about you fighting both of them, and killing Schmitt. But why didn't you kill the VC?"

"It's better to let her live, with the realization that I beat her and could easily have killed her."

Lindarth

I jumped across the buildings until I reached Ashley's shop.

"Hello, Ash."

"K-Kirito. What can I do for you?" She said in a scared voice.

"I need a suit for the Masquerade party tonight. I also need to pick up a dress."

"What's the name for the dress?"

"Philia. Should be a blue dress, I'm guessing."

"And for your suit?"

"Standard ball room suit."

"I think I've got one in the back." Ashley went into the back of her store a minute later. "I originally made this for Shiva. Since he's dead, you could use it. He requested that I put a sheath in the coat for his dagger."

"Should be useful. Thanks Ash."

Ashley gave me the suit and Philia's dress, and I walked out. I went to HQ, where I dropped off the dress in Philia's room. I threw on my suit jacket and struggled with my tie.

"Let me help you with that."

Philia walked in, wearing her dress and started tying my tie.

"Thanks." I said when she finished. "You get the masks?"

"Yup. Picked yours out specially."

She handed me my mask, which was a black crow or raven.

"What is this? A black raven?"

"I thought it was funny. Aincrad Reaper, death. Crows and ravens were considered dark omens of death. Do you not like it?"

"No, nothing like that. Just didn't know the connection you made between me and the mask."

"Excuse me, sir." Liz said opening the door. "I just finished your sword."

"Thank you, Liz. Take the night off." I said taking the sword.

"We could I go?" She said sarcastically as she walked away.

Usually if she said a comment like that, I would have put her head through a wall. But I didn't feel like beating her today. Philia and I got our cursor reset by doing the cursor quest, then went to the 40th. We put on our masks as we stepped off the teleportation gate, and Philia linked her arm to mine as we walked in.

"I don't think I'll drink tonight. Wouldn't want you to take advantage of me, in my drunken state." She said.

"Hardy har."

Philia grabbed a drink and some water from a waiter.

"How come you didn't get me a drink?" I asked taking the glass of water.

"Because I know most of the time your uncle was drunk when he beat you. So you don't like alcohol."

"You've been listening."

"Let's go dance." Philia said finishing her drink.

She dragged me to the group of players dancing, and stood in front of me.

"I can't dance."

"I'd said I'd show you. Place your hand on my back and grab my hand with the left."

I hesitated for a moment then placed my hand on her back and taking her hand, while she placed her left hand on my shoulder.

"Is it just me or does that girl look familiar?"

"Kind of looks like the Widow." I said looking over. "But Shiva killed her a while back."

"So tell me. What happened with Sachi last night?"

"Why are you so concerned with my love life?"

"Because I never had one. So spill."

"We ate dinner and I was helping Sachi clean up. I said that maybe we should have dinner more often, and we started arguing. I thought back to something my uncle would say to me, and I told her that maybe she was right, and that I should keep my distance."

Philia was silent as we danced. I could tell she wasn't sure what she could say about my problem.

"Oh, wow. Is that Asuna? She looks beautiful."

I looked over at the balcony. It was definitely Asuna and her date had just walked away.

"Would you mind if I had a word with her?" I asked Philia.

"Not at all. There's some guys who have been eyeing me since we got here."

I made my way over to Asuna just as she placed her date's jacket on the back of a chair.

"May I have this dance, miss?" I said.

she looked at me and instantly knew who I was.

"You wouldn't want to make a scene, now would you?"

She took my hand and we walked to the center of the room, and danced.

"So, who's the lucky guy you brought?" I said.

"..."

"You look very nice this evening. I like how you've let your hair down."

"..."

"I'm trying to be civil here. You had a choice last night. You didn't have to fight me."

"You were killing people." She yell whispered. "You didn't have to kill Schmitt."

"Well actually I did. I was paid to do it, and Schmitt has been a pain in my ass."

"The blood you've spilt, the hearts broken. How do you sleep at night?"

"You forget Princess, you haven't truly lost anything. You still have your parents, even though you hate your mother. You've never been beaten for being different, I have. I guarantee you if Sugu was here, she wouldn't be surprise by what I've become."

We heard the sound of someone tapping their glass with a utensil, and Heathcliff walked into the center of the room as the players dancing stopped and surrounded him.

"Let me start with saying how proud I am of all of you. Look at all you've accomplished. Now the reason I started this event was to tell you all something. Unfortunately, I cannot continue to help you fight. There's storm brewing and I'd rather watch to see how it all plays out."

Everyone was muttering to themselves and each other. But I knew what was going on. Heathcliff is Kayaba. I grabbed my dagger and charged Kayaba. Half a second later I was in the worst pain I've ever been in. Kayaba had seen me coming and plunged a dagger into my stomach.

"Aaaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhh!"

"Hello, Kirito. I've heard a lot about you." He pulled the dagger out and stabbed me again. "I hear you the reverse of me. I guess we'll have to see."

Kayaba then threw me through the window, I hit my head on the railing, cracking my mask, and I flew to the outskirts of the town. I woke up in a strange room. My shirt and jacket were unbuttoned, and bloody. I had two scars where the dagger stabbed me. I sat up on the bed as Philia came in.

"Kirito, are you ok?"

"I just got thrown out a window. How do you think I am. How'd I get here?"

"I don't know. I just followed you on my map."

"What else did I miss?"I said as I picked up the cracked mask, which didn't disappear.

"After getting tossed aside? Heathcliff gave Asuna control of the guild and..."

"And what?"

"Heathcliff said that, in anticipation of the coming war, he's disabled the safezones."

"This can work to our advantage, or disadvantage."

"What do you mean."

"Either The Clearers will accept Asuna as the new commander, or they'll be so shocked by Heathcliff's betrayal that they want listen. If it's the latter, then we can use it to dismantle the KBO and Clearers. As for the safezones, we can use that fear against the people."


	16. Knife meet Back

"Come on Yui. Time to come back in." Sachi said.

Yui ran back into the house while Sachi followed behind her, carrying a bouquet of black lotus, her favorite flower. I was watching them from a tree, it was too risky for me to be near them, but I had to see. It's been about a week, but felt like forever. Sachi stood at the door and looked around, like she had a feeling someone was watching them. I climbed down and headed towards my next contract. A Don contact turned traitor, named Fancy Dan. Ole Danny doesn't know The Don put a hit on him. So I'm heading to the City to kill him. I walked into Strangles and saw Danny passed out at table. I picked him up and brought him outside. Once we got some place where we'd be unseen, I drew my sword, covered his mouth and stabbed him through the heart. He was so out cold from the booze, that he didn't wake up. With the contract complete, I went back to HQ where there was a note and sword on my desk.

 **"** _Here's your second sword, boss. Don't know what you'll name it._ **"**

It was strange, I haven't seen Liz for a while. Not since the ball. I picked up the sword, which was black and had a diamond shape near the tip. I put it in my inventory and sat in my chair. It was unusually quiet in the cave, so I assumed that most of my men were out on contracts. It was late so I went to bed. The next day, Kai came in to my room.

"Boss. There's another client who's asking to meet you."

"Ok. I'll head down in a second."

I finished what I was doing and went to the 40th floor. In the forest, I saw PoH for some strange reason.

"PoH? What are you doing here? You're not the client are you?" I said joking.

"Actually, I am. And the target... Is you."

Before I could react or respond, I got hit in the back of the neck, and was forced to my knees and held down.

"PoH! What is the meaning of this?!"

"It's really quite simple, _kid_. We think you're unfit to lead the LC anymore."

"I swear to god, when the Don hears about this."

"The Don gave us the all clear to do this. You know, after you killed a close friend of his."

I was setup. Don never ordered the hit on Dan. It was PoH.

"I'm gonna kill you. You hear me!"

PoH snapped his fingers and one of his men walked out. With Sachi.

"Kirito!"

"We managed to find where you've hidden your bitch."

"PoH, stop this! She has nothing to do with this."

"All the pieces have fallen into place. You've weakened the new Commander of KBO, by kidnapping and turning her friend. And after we killed Shiva, you killed Jason Crow and Schmitt, two of the biggest threats to us. Now it's time for someone stronger to take over."

PoH pushed down on Sachi's shoulders, forcing her to her knees. He then pulled out a strange dagger, different from his Mate Chopper, and slid it across her cheek, cutting her slightly and leaving a thin line of blood. I struggle to break free but my hands were still tied and I was being held down. One hand on her shoulder, he brought the dagger to Sachi's throat and slit it. Blood poured out, like it would in the real world, and her eyes and mouth glowed like Crow's. I yelled out as she bled, fell over and explodes into pixels.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You'll be dead soon, so I fail to see how that will happen."

PoH walked over, backhanding me, and was ready to stab me with the dagger. Then suddenly PoH was launched back and players were shouting and dying around us. PoH and some others teleported away, as more people were getting attacked. All but one was left, and he was cut in two with a sword skill. I looked up, my vision a bit blurry and saw someone wearing an LC poncho.

"Just kill me already." I said weakly.

"That would be a waste." They said walking towards me. "You're more valuable... alive."

They pulled the hood down and I saw the face of Shiva with glowing yellow eyes, before getting punched unconscious.

I woke up in a room, more of a cell, and I sat up.

"Where am I?" I said to myself.

"You're in a KBO cell." Shiva said walking in front of the cell, eyes still glowing.

"What the hell?" I said in a low voice. "How are you still alive?"

"I never died." He said. "But that doesn't matter. What does matter, is that you've lost your guild."

"Oh my god, Yui!"

"I have some people looking for her as we speak. But we need to talk about now. With PoH as the leader of Laughing Coffin, he can do whatever he wants. And you probably know him better than anyone here."

"What are you on about?"

"You know some of the major players in the guild better than us. I'm asking you to be an adviser. To help us."

"Not a chance. I just want to be left alone. The only person I ever loved, just got murdered right before my eyes."

"You think you're the only one who's experienced that pain?! Newsflash, Kirito, you're not. I watched as the three people I cared about most were killed. And I ended up killing them and everyone who looked up to me as a leader."

"You did this to me! My relationship with Sachi disintegrated because of you and your stupid mind games."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"When I broke out of Black Iron. You attacked me, did your little hand trick and you started haunting me. You made me hit Sachi."

"Kirito, I didn't come after you when you broke out; I was following a lead on du Casse. I didn't know you escaped until the next day."

"Yeah, ok, lied to my face."

I laid back down on the bed and Shiva walked out. About an hour later, I heard footsteps.

"Hello Kirito." Klein said.

"What do you want Klein?" I said without looking at him, still laying down.

"I wanted to see if it was true. That they captured you."

"Well as you can see, I've been captured. Now leave me alone."

"So it's true. You've been overthrown."

"Yup. Now I'm awaiting my execution."

Klein took a breath and then left. And five minutes later Shiva returned.

"Get up." He said opening the door.

"Are you gonna kill me now?"

"No, I want to give you something."

"What?"

"What I didn't get until recently."

I walked towards Shiva, and he tied my hands with rope then he teleported us to the 40th floor.

"What was that dagger PoH had?" I asked as we walked out of town.

"It's what Jason called a Soul Breaker. There one of every weapon type: sword, dagger, claw, axe. Remember that stone from Christmas? Well basically, if you kill someone with a Soul Breaker, the stone can't bring them back. And there's a visual cue for it, light shoots out of your eyes and mouth. If PoH has his hands on Soul Breakers, were screwed."

We arrived at our destination: The place where Sachi was just killed.

"Why are we here again?"

"One minute."

Shiva held out his arm, curling his middle and ring finger slightly and extending his other fingers. Pixels on the ground started moving together and formed a body, then turned into Sachi. I didn't question how he did it.

"I thought you said she could be brought back to life again."

"She can't. Her body and mind in the real world are dead. But the game keeps memory of where players died for about six hours after death."

"Why bring her body back?"

"I didn't get to bury Robin and the others. But you can. You deserve to have some form of closure. Is there any where she would want to be buried?"

"Yeah. She loved the lake on the twenty-second floor. We always talked about moving to that lake house."

I picked up Sachi's body and Shiva teleported us to the lake house. The sun was starting to set. The colors, sunset and it's reflection in the lake looked beautiful. A contrast to what I was feeling right now. Shiva grabbed a shovel and I laid Sachi down and started digging, while he looked for a log. He came back and started craving the epitaph. I finished digging and I put Sachi in and filled the hole with dirt.

"I shouldn't have left. I should have been there, I could have protected her."

"Unfortunately, that wouldn't have changed things. If Sachi had stopped you from leaving, she would have still been killed. There's nothing you could have done. But you can get revenge."

"Do you miss her? Your wife?"

"Everyday."

"I'll help you destroy The Pact."

We went back to Granzam. When I walked in, I saw someone familiar and I lost control.

"You!" I yelled as I lifted Philia by the throat. "You're the only one who knew where they were."

Knights surrounded me, weapons drawn and ready to attack.

"What the hell? How'd he escape?" Asuna said walking in.

 _"Drop your weapons."_ Shiva said.

Suddenly everyone in the room dropped whatever they were holding. My hand loosened around Philia's throat and I struggled to keep my hold, like my body had a mind of it's own. Philia fell to her knees gasping for air.

"Philia didn't sell you out, she's too loyal. And I let Kirito out."

"What the hell were you think?! Why would you let him out?" Asuna yelled.

"I kept an eye on him the whole time. He needed closure."

"What does he need closure for? He should be killed right here, right now for everything that he's done, the hundreds his killed." She said placing her hand on her rapier.

"Papa!"

I turned to see Yui running towards me and I knelt down to hug her.

"He has a family, Asuna. His wife was just killed a couple hours ago. And he was just thrown out of his guild. We just finished bury her."

Asuna was stunned. Probably the combination of discovering I had a wife and daughter.

"Kirito is our ace in the hole. The knowledge he has on The Pact, his adaptability under fire and stress, his combat ability. Four months and the war is over."

"Fine, I'll tell my men not to harass him. But we're gonna have talk later."


	17. Kibaou

Shiva and I were sitting in the holding cell. Well, _I_ was sitting in the holding cell, Shiva was outside sitting in a chair.

"So to recap. When that brute, PoH sent to kill you, lifted you up and broke your back, Crow teleported you to safety. Then you two went after this Alberich guy, who you say is the secret member of the Pact and the person who sent du Casse to Sinanju. Then Alberich killed Crow, started beating you to a pulp, forced your wife to kill you, and then you got Crow's power and killed Alberich?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Shiva said.

"So, you're basically like a god?"

"Yes and no. Crow's abilities were limited by Alberich, and when I killed him, he couldn't limit the power anymore. So I have more abilities than Crow did. But I blocked out most of the abilities that would make me too powerful. So I wouldn't end up turning into Alberich."

"So what abilities do you have?"

"The glowing eyes, instantaneous equipment changing, illusion special effects. Pretty much stuff that would make people _think_ I was a god."

"So what's the attack plan? When do we go after PoH?"

"We need to prioritize. We have to deal with The Don, du Casse, Laughing Coffin, among other things. One of the biggest problems, are the escapees you freed from Black Iron."

"All the escapees are apart of Laughing Coffin."

"There were others that didn't side with you, who broke out. One in particular is Fairytale."

"Fairytale? I thought you killed him. Blew his head off."

"I wanted to, but chose to spare him. You actually meet him in Black Iron, if my sources are correct. Went by the name Grove."

"Grove? He want me to give him control of the LC."

"Perhaps it was part of Alberich's plan."

Before we could continue talking, Asuna walked in.

"Shiva, you need to come and see this." She said.

Shiva unlocked the cell and we followed Asuna outside, where there was a huge mob of people. Some people were yelling out how their brothers, sisters, friends were killed.

"Oh no." He said.

"The Reaper deserves to die!" Someone yelled.

"Why are you protecting that murderer?!" Another shouted.

"People, please. Quiet down!" Shiva said.

"He needs to die!" Someone said.

"The Reaper is helping us stop The Don and his criminals! He has unique knowledge of his people!"

"Stop protecting him!"

"Here's the deal! Reaper is going to help us, if anyone harasses him, I'll throw you in Black Iron. Once the war is over, Reaper will be exiled. And no one will seek him out."

I walked back towards my cell. I walked by Asuna's office, when I heard voices inside.

"What do you mean the Army can't help?" Asuna said.

"I mean we can't help. Someone overthrew Thinker and has taken over the Army."

"The Army could really help in the war."

"Then send someone in." I said walking in. "I could go in and kill whoever this usurper is, and put Thinker back in charge."

"That could work. There's a secret tunnel beneath the Palace you could use." The woman said before Asuna could talk.

"Hang on. Why do you have to go? How do I know you would stab us in the back?"

"Shiva is one of the powerful beings in Aincrad. You have Yui here and protected. And anything that I can do to crush the Pact, I will do."

"Let him go." Shiva said standing at the door. "I know he won't betray us. He hates PoH and The Don, and he has something to lose."

"Where did you say they were? In Black Iron?"

"Yes. There's a secret dungeon beneath the prison, that you can use to get in. Buy there's a boss inside that's very strong."

"I can deal with the boss. Just long enough to get Kirito inside, then there's something I have to do else where." Shiva said.

"Asuna, if you'd be kind enough to send some Knights just outside the Palace, and maybe even the dungeon entrance after we leave."

Asuna looked at Shiva, who gave her a look back, before unwillingly agreeing.

 _15 minutes later_

"So what's my exfiltration plan? Do I have a time limit before you come back for me?"

"Nope, I need to do something that may take awhile. If this is a dungeon, then there should be a safe room somewhere. Get in, kill the usurper, save Thinker and get out."

We walked further into the dungeon, when we stopped suddenly, and Shiva kicked me towards a wall. Just as he did this, a giant scythe swung between us. I looked up to see a Grim Reaper.

"Found the dungeon boss." He said.

The Reaper went to take another swing and Shiva blocked it. I took this as my cue and ran past them, turning left. I went up stairs and came to a hallway, looked like the maximum security wing but without the cells. If I wanted to keep someone locked up with very little chance of escape, I'd put them in maximum security. I moved quietly throughout the prison and avoided being seen. There were two shield bearers standing at the entrance of the maximum wing, meaning the new ALF leader _really_ doesn't want Thinker to escape. There's really no way to get past these guys without alerting all of Black Iron Palace, which makes things even harder since I can't use any crystals to teleport out or even heal, AND, I'll have to find, protect, and escort Thinker of of the prison. Unless, I use my _Hiding_ skill and wait for the guards to move. But the only problem with that plan is, if _one_ person with a high enough _Searching_ skill sees me, it's all over. I took my chances, and moved as fast as possible behind a rock near the entrance and activated my Hiding skill.

 **"** _Yulier, I think Thinker is in maximum security. Right now it's being guarded, so when I get a chance, I'll run in and check. I'll message you if he isn't there, if I don't, wait for me to make some noise to rescue him._ **"**

 _Two hours later_

I waited for so long, I wanted to run myself with a sword. But then I heard a familiar voice.

I saw Kibaou, the player who wanted to kill all beta testers back at the beginning of Sword Art, and watched as he approached the two guards and stood them.

"Sir." One of the guards said.

I realized Kibaou was the usurper. He spoke to the guards for a minute, then walked away and the guards followed. I got out from behind the rock and ran down the hall. Walking past cell after cell, I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, preparing for an attack. Eight cells later, I found Thinker unconscious in a bed. I opened the cell, ran in and pulled Thinker out of the cell and checked on him in the hall, just in case this was a trap. He seemed to be ok, just knocked out and no amount of slapping woke him up. Knowing there was no way I could carry him out of here without being seen, I picked Thinker up and put him in the very last cell and went after Kibaou. Managing to get past the two new guards, I moved towards Thinker's former office, when two spotlights were aimed at me.

"PoH told me that you might come here." Kibaou said from above. "He said if I took over the ALF, I would have free rein to do what I want. Imagine what I'll get when I tell them I killed the Great Aincrad Reaper."

"Then why don't you come down here, and fight me." I said.

"Oh no. I know your Beater tricks."

"For the love of god. Beta testers and beaters don't matter anymore. You're psychotic."

"Oh trust me, _you're_ the psychotic one. You're the one who walked in a place of PoH followers."

The sound of every cell being opened could be heard, and prisoners running to surround me. I drew my sword and equipped a second one.

"When I get out of here, I'm gonna reap you."

A prisoner ran at me from behind, and was stabbed by my sword. I cleaved another who ran in front, then moved towards others. Some of the prisoners were locked up early in the game and died pretty easily. I killed a couple more inmates, then I kicked someone back, stabbed two behind me, then stabbed two in front of me and left the swords in their chests. Four inmates were killed with my bare hands, a fifth threw a punch, missed, and was beaten to death with his own arms. Grabbing my swords out of the two prisoners, I separated their heads from their shoulders, and sliced up several other inmates.

"Guards! Get in there and kill that bastard." Kibaou said.

A door opened and some soldiers ran in, and from the looks of it, more were coming. I found a lancer moving towards me and I had an idea. After activating _Lightning Fall_ to get some breathing room, I carved up the lancer with both swords, cut off his arm while sheathing one of my sword and stabbed him with his own lance, all in quick succession. Gripping the lance with both hands I ran straight towards the door, impaling everyone in my path, then quickly aimed down, pole vaulted up to where Kibaou was. Landing, I drew my swords and blocked the two soldier's strikes, dual stabbed one and throwing him to the wolves below then cross-slashing the second one and decapitating him. I then chased after Kibaou, who had a head start on me. I ran down the hall, jumping over a defender and under a soldier, before getting clotheslined by another soldier. I kicked his legs, making him trap, then I took his sword and stabbed it through throat, then stomped on it so the hilt was against his throat. Kiboau ran down some stairs and I ran, throwing my grapple around the railing, then jumped over and kicked Kiboau in the head. I rolled as i hit the floor then grabbed Kiboau. A light bulb turned on as I dragged him to where I entered the prison.

"You want get out of here alive!" Kiboau yelled. "PoH's gonna kill you like he did your bi-"

I pulled out a pick, stabbing it into Kibaou's chest and tossing him down the stairs. I picked him up again and placed a sword against his throat as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I faced the stairs as a horde of soldiers and inmates came down.

"Back off! Or I'll kill him!" I said.

They wouldn't not listen to me and took a few steps forward. _'I warned you.'_ I thought as I stabbed Kibaou with the pick again, and tossed him backwards with all of my strength. Kibaou was cut in half as The Fatal Scythe appeared, and I used this to escape while the Scythe attacked the inmates and soldiers.

 _5 minutes later_

Asuna lost track of Shiva on the Thirty-eighth floor. As I walked down the road, I heard sounds of fighting and followed the sound.

"You're breaking my heart, darlin'. You attack me after months of not seeing each other and you brought a friend? You know I don't like threesomes."

Getting closer, I could see Shiva fighting Lisbeth and from the looks of it, he was losing. I drew my swords and charged in to help. Liz saw me and swung causing me to slide under her mace and cut her leg. She knelt down on one knee then tried to hit Shiva again, but got her mace stuck in a tree when he moved out of the way. Shiva moved in and placed his hand on Liz's face and she started screaming, before collapsing.

"Thanks for your help, Kirito." Shiva said panting.

"Didn't you say she had a friend?"

"...Traako."

Shiva pushed me out of the way, and blocked the attack from Yuuki. I got behind her and stabbed her, giving Shiva an opening to hit her with the same move he did to Liz, and knocking her out.

"Please tell me no one else is gonna attack." Shiva panted. "I'm guessing these two belong to you?"

"Yeah, captives. Last time I saw them was about two weeks before the betrayal."

"Could explain a lot. Their eyes had the look of a desire to kill? My money's on PoH conditioning them to obey him and probably his lieutenants alone."

"What should we do with them?"

"I can try and remove the conditioning. And I think the Commander will be happy to see Liz."

Shiva and I carried the girls on our shoulders, and teleported to Granzam. As we walked through the city, people gave us looks and threw stuff at me while shouting insults. Once in the castle, we went straight to the cells where I was being held, when we heard Asuna.

"Shiva, what's going on? Where have you-... Liz? You found her?!"

"More like she found me. Liz and the other girl attacked, and Kirito helped apprehend them."

As I gave Yuuki to one of the Knights, I heard the familiar ring of a sword being drawn. I looked over and saw a Knight behind Asuna, pulling his sword back in a thrust towards her. I rushed towards her, placing my hand on her shoulder and pushing her away, getting the blade straight to my stomach. Even though it's a game, being stabbed still hurts like hell. I headbutted the attacker, and Shiva grabbed him and slammed his head into a wall.

"Good lord! That hurts." I said holding my stomach. "Tie him up in a room. And get me some tools."


End file.
